Funk from Junk

Kitti Manoonphol, the dashing 31-year-old Thai jewelry designer whose outrageous creations appear on the necks and wrists of Thai princesses and reigning beauty queens (Miss Thailand and Miss World among them), is setting his sights on the wider world. And his latest collection (which can be viewed at kittijewelry.com ) might just help him get there. "Contemporary ethnic arts," the phrase adopted by Kitti to describe his latest work, barely does justice to his audacious combination of ancient bead-working techniques and modern junk. Visitors to his "art space" (read: store), on Bangkok's rapidly gentrifying Silom Road, can find all manner...