You don’t always need a wormhole to travel into another dimension. Sometimes, it’s enough to book a plane ticket. Or to close your eyes, let your mind go on a journey and immerse yourself into another world. Open your eyes again, and you are standing in the center of Thong Lor, the vibrant Bangkok neighborhood known for its stylish restaurants, cafes and bars. Swarms of scooters are rushing past, the BTS Skytrain is rattling high up on its brutalist railway. The damp heat is already starting to soak your shirt, and you smell the sweet odor of the street kitchens next to you where old ladies are selling boiled pork, mango and sticky rice. Now turn your head again and walk towards the big glass cube in front of you. And as you get sucked into a signal yellow entry tunnel – part carburettor, part psychedelic periscope from the Beatles’ movie ‘Yellow Submarine’ – you leave the hustle and bustle of megalopolitan Bangkok behind and enter the parallel universe of Curvistan.
The space itself is vast, clean, full of light, and buzzing with bold wall colors, photographs from Stefan Bogner and the graphic artworks of Jeffrey Docherty. A DJ is playing old-school hip-hop tunes, Digable Planets fade into A Tribe Called Quest. There are groups of people sitting on Jean Prouvé chairs, chatting, enjoying their drinks. As you start to explore the space, you marvel at the classic shape of a pearl white early Porsche 911 SWB from the 1960s parked next to a three-metre Mid-Century wood figure by designer Alexander Girard. Right next to it, there’s an artful display of Porsche Design’s most iconic creations – a pair of skis, a purple 1990s mountain bike, a skeleton sled, retro-futuristic helmets and sunglasses. You are ready to surrender to the magnetic 1970s vibe of a brown 928 before your attention is caught by the yellow 993 GT2 RS in the next room – a car that looks like it had been designed to race Bangkok’s city highways at night. Looking outside, you see that there are crowds of Porsches arriving and parking under tropical plants and palm trees. Slowly you come to understand that you will literally spend hours drifting through the venue, as there is so much to see, touch, learn and experience.
Curvistan Bangkok is a bar, a café, an art gallery, a concept store and a hangout that celebrates car culture, art, music and design. It’s is supposed to become a new cultural hot spot in one of Asia’s most vibrant cities, a home for passionate Porsche drivers and people living in motion. Curvistan is a space where you can be surprised, educated and inspired by ever-changing exhibitions. A place with just the right vibe to meet your friends over a coffee or dinner and talk about cars, design, travel and life. Or simply shop for the world’s coolest works of art, driving essentials and accessories.
Curvistan Bangkok has been created as a collaboration between Stefan Bogner – the multi-talented photographer, designer, Porsche enthusiast and publisher of the motor-mountaineering cult magazine ‘Curves’ – and Chanond Ruangkritya, a visionary Thai entrepreneur and dedicated Porsche enthusiast and collector. Just last week, Chanond’s real estate company Ananda Development and Porsche Design announced their joint vision for the first Porsche Design Tower in Asia – a sleek, state-of-the-art ultra-luxury residence building that will start growing in the building site next door and open in 2028. With only 22 condos selling at an average of 15 million US dollars, the ultra-exclusive skyscraper will be the architectural answer to the Porsche 918 or Mission X supercars. Meanwhile, the inclusive philosophy of the Porsche brand is celebrated at the Curvistan space where the local and global car community is invited to come together for the next two years.
But what is Curvistan exactly? “It’s an imaginary country where everyone owns a classic or sports car and people drive for the sheer pleasure of being on the road, seeing the beauty of the world flying past an open window, refueling their soul with the pure joy of being alive in every serpentine,” says Stefan Bogner. “It's the promised land of all spirited drivers, where the world’s most artfully twisted driving roads can be found. Curvistan is the land of the fast, the home of the curve. Where friendships are made on hot asphalt, with engines crackling in the background after endless days of driving.”
Two years ago, this mythical serpentine heaven on Earth became a reality when the first Curvistan pop-up store opened in Munich in 2022, followed by a temporary gallery in Singapore in 2023. Last weekend, the biggest and boldest Curvistan venue opened its doors in the heart of Bangkok, creating the ultimate playground for South East Asia’s vibrant car and Porsche community. “I first met Chanond in December 2023 and we immediately had a connection”, says Stefan Bogner. “He liked the idea of Curvistan and just made it happen.” After Chanond Ruangkritya had seen the space in Singapore, he was convinced that this remixed version of a Porsche brand space could be taken to the next level, teasing the Porsche Design Tower in a creative, natural and inclusive way: “Instantly, Stefan, my team and I, we spoke the same language – we shared the same vision, the same passion, and we made it happen in less than four months.”
Being used to the slow-grinding mills of Europe, Stefan Bogner was surprised at the impressive high speed and quality with which his idea became a reality. “Just three days before the opening, the site was still buzzing with constructors. It was a big and beautiful mess, everything was happening all at once. It felt like an explosion played backwards, a shining star born from the eternal chaos of the universe. And on opening day, everything looked perfect.”
Bogner was supported by his long-time collaborators around Yannick Ott from Porsche Asia Pacific. “Instead of presenting a pitch deck, I took the decision maker on a 6am morning drive down the Autobahn and played the Beastie Boys at full volume. He was sold.” Helping the Curvistan team is Tenn Xoomsai, a film director and organizers of the must-attend Porsche event ‘Das Treffen’ which attracts hundreds of Thai Porsche enthusiasts every year. Meanwhile, the venue’s iconic furniture has been brought into the game by Swiss design company Vitra and its local distributor, Norse. It’s a match made in design heaven – and the space fits perfectly into Bangkok’s casual vibe where everything seems possible with a nod and a smile. Of course, no place in the city is complete without good food and drinks, which are kindly supported by the Socrates Delicious Syrup Company and the Coffee Academics from Impact.
Coming from Europe, a continent that at times seems trapped in endless loops of reminiscence and self-reflection, Bangkok is a playground city that exists in the moment, and where people still strive for success with confidence and dedication. Just walk down the street to the Emsphere mall, and you see lavender-coloured Porsche Taycans selling next to limited edition New Balance sneakers and high-end fashion brands like Prada and Gucci, while music is blaring from every corner of the building. As if someone had hit the 3D print button on Tiktok, it’s a sensual overload for compulsive Westerners trained to think in neatly organized boxes and categories, and a glimpse into the future of luxury retail. And, despite Thailand’s eye-watering high taxes on luxury cars and almost insurmountable hurdles for importing classics, the city has a vibrant, bold and colourful car culture, with local collectors enjoying their cars at road trips around Asia and events like “Das Treffen” attracting hundreds of cars every year. For brands like Porsche, South East Asia is a booming market – and it came as no surprise that the new Macan was not launched in Stuttgart, but in Singapore.
Together with local collaborators, the team is working on an infinite flow of special events and exhibitions. And while we join our friend for the three-day Curvistan Opening Weekend, there are community talks, a Porsche x Puma sneaker drop, a photo workshop, daily DJ sets, a breakdance performance and the opening of the ‘Porsche: A Design Manifesto’ show. Curated by Stefan Bogner and the author of this piece, the inaugural exhibition explores the holistic design philosophy and diverse aesthetic cosmos behind the Porsche brand – from sports cars and watches to sunglasses and, well, skyscrapers. But this is literally just the tip of the iceberg. Or, to stick with the Curves’ alpine terminology, the top of the mountain pass.
Curvistan Bangkok presents a vision of the Porsche brand that embraces the past, celebrates contemporary car culture, but is essentially aiming into the future. “Next, a Porsche Unseen exhibition will show some of the futuristic vision cars from Porsche’s top-secret design studios”, says Stefan Bogner. “And I would also love to bring some racing cars with the most iconic liveries from the Porsche Museum, cars that haven’t been seen in Asia before. But whatever we do, we need to stay surprising – maybe it will turn into a fine dining restaurant at some point, or become a techno club. In Curvistan, everything’s possible.”
But what if you won't be in Bangkok anytime soon? Luckily, you can buy the latest editions of Curves as well as many beautiful books published by Stefan Bogner in the Curvistan section of our CD Shop.
