Khun Wishulada, or Khun Aye for short, defines herself as a social activist artist with an interest in environmental issues. She raises awareness and inspires people through her sustainable artwork. The interview starts with a discussion about her passion. Khun Aye then chooses the words “empowering, impactful, and striking” as three qualities audiences will find in her work.

Khun Aye believes the power of craft and creativity come from our thoughts and production process, from start to finish. In terms of the environment, she adds that less production and more reusing can help make a sustainable future. And It truly excites her when she sees the power the young generation can have on a world stage. She urges the older generations to be more seriously concerned about environmental problems since it is everyone’s responsibility to resolve them altogether.

As a long-time artist, her body of work counts as her “best”. She hopes that her artwork will raise awareness about single-use materials and motivate people to show more social responsibility, such as remembering to separate waste. She also hopes her work can make a change, from an individual learning about upcycling to manufacturers being more environmentally friendly and, perhaps one day, her message will spread around the world.

Her inspirations mostly come from her family. Since she was young, her family used many ways to manage waste. They repaired broken things instead of buying new ones, reused plastics, separated waste and sold old electronic devices. Nature, wildlife documentaries and fantasy movies were another source of inspiration. She often takes a walk in construction material stores to explore and come up with new ideas from the unusual shape and colorful shades of objects.

Her design process begins with selecting materials used in the artwork. This is followed by searching for inspiration and information to frame the concept of the artwork. Then she will draft and design the artwork before creating it. For the weaved bags she made for Moose Indie Summer, she chose used clothes as her material. Then she framed her concept based on craftsmanship and upcycling along with the unique colors of Indie Summer. She found that the green and pink colors perfectly complement each other. Green is natural and fresh and pink is warm and joyful. Together, this palette conjured striking feelings of empowerment and impact. Three words she uses to describe Indie Summer are craftsmanship, striking and upcycling. The fact that Khun Aye’s work will always be crafted from these words which make her pieces recognizable.

One thing that she's always wanted to do is to encourage the young generation who aspire to be change makers through art. She asked them to be confident, think out of the box and share different perspectives. Her second message is to always be ready for new challenges and opportunities. Thirdly, she suggests having strong intentions, passion and the determination to make a difference. One should understand their idea and deeply acknowledge the issues from all angles. Last but not least, she says to be fearless and learn from your success and mistakes.

Now we’ve come to a more relaxing topic. For Khun Aye, it is not only about a perfect summer, but the perfection of a Work-Life Balance for all seasons. This balance can be much better during the summer when she gets to enjoy the sun and beach. Her favorite food pairing with Moose Indie Summer is Pad Thai with Egg Wrap. Because it is a food that foreigners know and think of first when talking about Thai food and the process of making it seems easy, yet it’s difficult to make it delicious. It also goes well with Indie Summer because it has a complex taste that’s layered while eating.

For Indie Summer songs she’s been binge-listening to tracks from “The Paradise Bangkok Molam International Band''. She stated that all the tracks from this band remind her of Indie Summer because of the harmony of Thai and international instruments. She thinks that this is the most perfect combination for her, is extremely impressed and has become a huge fan ever since discovering them.