We speak to Wonderfruit founder Pranitan “Pete” Phornprapha about how the progressive festival celebrates people and the planet, and demonstrates how the two can co-exist
Exhausted yet elated and covered in dust, I sat in the back of a jeep en route back to my hotel as the rising sun began peeking through endless rows of palm trees. It was my first Wonderfruit experience, back in 2017, and I knew it wasn’t going to be my last.
The four-day festival situated in the lush Thai jungle is conscious hedonism. Through art, music and food, it has managed to find that sweet spot of being serious about sustainability, while creating an environment where people don’t have to take themselves (or anything, really) too seriously.
“My vision for Wonderfruit’s evolution is thinking about how we can create a sense of awe and wonder. How we can ignite that childlike curiosity,” says Wonderfruit founder Pranitan Phornprapha, better known as Pete, who says that people don’t really notice until they arrive that music isn’t the festival’s main attraction.
Sure, music line-ups that include the likes of Nicola Cruz, Roots Manuva and Richie Hawtin draw the crowds, but it’s a kind of “come for the music, stay for the lessons in life and sustainability” situation. There’s a strict ban on single-use plastic, and the days are packed with wellness- and sustainability- focused activities. Think yoga, meditation and sound baths, expert-led talks and workshops including fermentation, plant-based cooking and even the sensual Japanese art of shibari bondage.
When the sun sets, the field lights up in a spectrum of colours, the stages scattered across the grounds’ 48 hectares come to life and elaborately dressed party animals roam—the festival prides itself on being a safe place for self-expression and inclusivity.
“I had never wanted to do a music festival. I wanted to find a way to use the things we love, like art and culture, to create dialogue on the environmental issues that we’re experiencing. That gave birth to the seed, and that seed became Wonderfruit,” explains Bangkok-born Pornprapha, whose family owns Siam Motors Group and property businesses, including the Siam Country Club just outside Pattaya, where Wonderfruit has taken place since it was founded in 2014.
Instead, Phornprapha’s initial vision was something akin to the world fairs that took place in the Sixties and Seventies. “I had no experience in events. I guess my innocence really propelled the enthusiasm in me. I didn’t really understand the magnitude of it; of what it’d be like to create, essentially, a city,” he says, laughing at himself and the sheer ridiculousness of his bamboo-clad jungle Frankenstein.
Like a four-day mirage, the mostly self-sustaining utopian city appears once a year. Sculptures and structures by artists and architects from around the world fill the fields, showcasing innovative displays of sustainable architecture and design.
See also: Banyan Tree Partners with Wonderfruit for the Ultimate Festival Glamping Experience
