The only child of Kobchai and Sukanya and more commonly known as Peung, Matunart Sosothikul is the fourth-generation heiress of a family business that comprises the Seacon shopping mall, Nanyang shoes and the five-star Renaissance resort in Phuket. The saying has it that the acorn never falls far from the tree and while many might expect someone in her shoes to follow in the corporate footsteps of her forbearers, Peung has proved to be very much her own woman in her pursuit of an artistic career. Today, through her Matunart Designs studio, she is forging a reputation as a talented illustrator.
Born and raised in Thailand, Peung attended Ruamruedi International School before pursuing a bachelor’s degree in design and architecture at Chulalongkorn University. She subsequently earned a master’s degree in business administration from Boston College. In no rush to settle down with hubby and kids, the 32-year-old describes herself as fun, artistic and crazy, character traits that blossomed at a young age despite growing up in a business-oriented family. In fact, she says she always felt a strong connection to the artsy side of life.
“I knew early on that being stuck in the proverbial nine-to-five office job was not for me but just to be sure, before committing to Matunart Designs I worked for property development company TCC Land for a year. While I am grateful for the experience, it merely confirmed that I’m not cut out for the whole office shtick.”
Set on creating something of her own that would give her the freedom to indulge her love for art and drawing, Peung’s first step on the journey to becoming an independent commercial illustrator was to seek out ML Chiratorn Chirapravati (Kru Toh) and Somnuek Klangnok (Kru Parn), two of Thailand’s best-known artists, for guidance. Under their tutelage, she produced a number of sketches for a series of scarves that were put up for sale on Instagram. To her delight, the pieces were snapped up within a couple of days. In fact, they were such a hit that eventually they led to product packaging design commissions from business behemoths such as Unilever and projects to create wall illustrations for restaurant chains in Thailand and the US.
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Peung was also asked to provide illustrations for the packaging of Nanyang Sugar, a new line of girls’ sneakers developed by her family’s footwear brand, and for the launch event, she had the bright idea of illustrating and painting her own pair of sneakers. People immediately loved the quirky shoes and for a while, she was inundated with orders from folk wanting their own unique pair.
