Bluegrass Team
 

Company Profile

Laotian graphic designer Praseuth Banchongphakdy established the BlueGrass Design Group in Vientiane in 1996. Praseuth was born in Pakse, Laos and spent his childhood there and in Paris. He studied graphic design and spent some years practising in Sydney, Australia, before returning to his homeland in 1994 to set up practice.

‘The time was right for me to return’, says Praseuth. ‘I was motivated by a desire to do something to help my home country, one of the poorest and most underdeveloped countries in the world at the time. By 1994 the Lao government had enacted reforms that allowed graphic design companies, both local and international, to be set up’.

In 1996 BlueGrass was founded with the help of Billy Hayes and Michele Horne. They invested in the company and also helped in the early administration and IT development. They would later return home in 1999 and BlueGrass found new investors and expertise in Peter Loone and Betrand Lacherie.

Although Praseuth had been subjected to a range of international influences whilst he was studying and practising overseas, he felt that the situation he encountered on his return to Laos demanded a different approach to design. He points out that, though the country has a wonderful tradition of art, for example in the rich heritage and temples of the old royal town of Luang Prabang, there have been few opportunities to apply this visual heritage to graphic design in a wider context. The country is sparsely populated and has very little domestic industry and relatively few exports. At the same time, there are limited opportunities for Laotians to study graphic design.

'One of the aims of BlueGrass was to use our visual heritage to create new possibilities for Laotian design and new opportunities for Laotian designers', says Praseuth, 'Laos still has the opportunity to build its own, highly distinctive graphics identity. For example, there is almost a complete absence of visual identity in Laos. The telephone boxes around Vientiane have no readily recognisable signage to assist either locals or foreigners. The Internet café opposite the BlueGrass office has no visual identity at all, it looks as if it is a typical shop selling cigarettes. When I returned to Laos I found that most printed notices consisted of photocopies stuck to trees with nails.'

Praseuth believes that the efforts of BlueGrass are having some effect, and that the challenges are slowly being overcome. This is demonstrated by the increasing demand for print advertisements, book and brochure design, outdoor advertising, website design, TV commercials, and multimedia CDs.

As a direct consequence of BlueGrass's international networking Laos joined Icograda, having been accepted into membership in 1999. An outcome of this was participation in Oullim 2000, an international design conference held in Seoul, where the Lao flag flew proudly for the first time in the company of other member countries. BlueGrass was also selected to be a member of The Design Alliance, a collaborative network of Asian design consultancies (China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam). Again Laos was honoured when the Alliance held its first Annual General Meeting in Vientiane in November 2001.

With the keen support of Icograda and The Design Alliance, BlueGrass has been gathering books and magazines from designer friends around the world. These donations have made it possible to establish a small library, called The Design Alliance Library, in the Ecole Nationale des Beaux Arts in the Lao capital, Vientiane. In addition to this, expert designers have been volunteering their time to visit Laos to present the occasional seminar. Such projects also receive the support of commercial enterprises such as Arjo Wiggins, Antalis etc. It is Praseuth's profound hope that in the not-too-distant future Laos will have its own Design School.