With a name that’s Thai for “young love”, this creative interdisciplinary studio was started by Thai-American husband and wife team Home Phuangfueang and Cherry W. Rain-Phuangfueang in 2018.
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As the story goes, they had met at a flea market in Bangkok and a mutual love for vintage clothes sealed the deal. Now based in New York, the brand started with retailing only vintage but, along the way, Cherry started experimenting with knitting and, as of this year, those one-off pieces – part-garment, part-curiosities with their arty, off-beat aesthetic – are also up for grabs on its website.
Nongrak’s rendition of the Mary Janes in vintage silver elastic sourced from Japan with vintage toy beads
These entirely hand-crafted creations range from deconstructed jumpers to party frocks and stillsuits (seen Dune?), and even Mary Janes (yes, you read right), flourished with exaggerated frays and unexpected embellishments like vintage toy beads and baroque pearls.
Add the likes of trailing hems, seemingly random mushroom-like tufts of nubbly fabric, and a painterly eye for colour and they all make for delightfully organic and artisanal affairs, reminiscent of the early works of Rodarte and Eckhaus Latta.
Nongrak’s one-of-a-kind Debris Pearly Sunset Buoy hoodie in hand-crocheted mulberry silk yarn and yarns from a set of vintage angoras with hand-tied wool curls and distressing.
Materials are sourced from small-batch artisans and yarns from decades past, which means that production will likely never explode, but that’s not stopped the brand’s Instagram account (@thenongrak) from blowing up – or everything selling out pretty much instantly.
