Since it opened in August 2024, Curvistan Bangkok has aimed to redefine leisure and entertainment for the Porsche community and beyond as a bar, café, art gallery and hangout that celebrates car culture, art and design. Now it’s hosting an exceptional collection: the Porsche Unseen Design Studies.
The Curvistan Bangkok development, supported by Porsche Asia Pacific and Porsche Thailand, is the result of a collaboration between Curves magazine creator Stefan Bogner and the entrepreneur Chanond Ruangkritya, who is behind the Porsche Design Tower Bangkok that will be constructed a stone’s throw away from Curvistan.
Now, as the end-of-year holiday season approaches, the two devoted Porsche fans are unveiling a brand-new, limited-time event and theme at the hangout: Porsche Unseen Design Studies.
For the first time in Thailand
For 20 years, Michael Mauer has led Porsche’s design vision as Vice President Style Porsche at the Porsche Design Studio in Weissach. During this time he has granted glimpses of the often courageous, intriguing and surprising concept cars that have been created under his direction. Now, for the first time in Thailand, a collection of these ‘Unseen’ projects have come together under one roof.
The Vision Spyder – a 1:1 scale interpretation of how Mauer and his team imagined a modern, small and sporty roadster – is one of the highlights. Drawing inspiration from the modest sizing and lightweight ingenuity of cars designed by Porsche engineers in the 1950s – in particular, the 550 Spyder that Hans Hermann drove to victory in the 1954 Carrera Panamericana – the Vision Spyder features a spartan cockpit, flat radiator grille over the mid-mounted engine, red racing stripes and modest fins at the rear.
Many hidden treasures
The exhibition also features other 1:3 scale model concepts such as the Macan Vision Safari, an SUV-turned-overland design experiment; hypercar concepts like the Vision 918 RS and Vision 920, and even the Vision E – a design experiment that imagines what a Formula E car might look like, if homologated for customer racing.
Bogner, who has previously published a ‘Porsche Unseen’ book that explores some of the many hidden treasures in the Porsche Design secret archives, said the project was one of the most fulfilling he’d ever worked on. “We hope design fans, Porsche fans and car enthusiasts in Thailand and beyond make Curvistan a bookmark on their next trip to Bangkok – because this is definitely one exhibition they wouldn’t want to miss!”
Besides the Unseen exhibits, visitors can also look forward to a sneak preview of the one-off Taycan Turbo S Celestial Jade, ahead of its official Thailand premiere later in December. Created through Porsche’s Sonderwunsch program, the Taycan Turbo S Celestial Jade pays tribute to the Southeast Asian region.
A special Chromaflair pigmented paint gives the fully electric sports car a unique look, its color shifting with the light from different angles.
Above content © 2024 Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG reviewed and edited by Rex McAfee
