RMUTT students won a Royal trophy in the 21st Fruit and Vegetable Carving Competition

RMUTT students won a Royal trophy in the 21st Fruit and Vegetable Carving Competition

    Faculty of teachers and students from the Faculty of Home Economics and the Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Rajamangala University of Technology Thanyaburi integrated their knowledge to win Her Majesty Queen Suthida Bajrasudhabimalalakshana’s Royal trophy in “The 21st Fruit and Vegetable Carving, Banana leaf Decoration Contest” and the theme of competition is “Celebration of His Majesty the King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun’s Royal Wedding”. This year event was held at the Grand Mercure Bangkok Fortune in collaboration between Ministry of Culture and the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

     Assistant Professor Dr. Sermsri Songneum, organizer and team leader of Home Economics department revealed that it was their second year participation since 2017 and they had also won the Royal trophy of Her Majesty the Queen Sirikit, royal consort of the late King Rama the 9th. The theme of this contest would very well be, “In Celebration of His Majesty King Rama X’s Supreme Glory on the Auspicious Occasion of the Royal Coronation”. The carving ideas would base its notion on the royal coronation that integrates fruit and vegetable carving decorated with fresh flower, and banana leaf.  For example, contestants would need to carve pumpkins into the 5 royal regalia that refers to the 5 symbolic possessions of King as well as the Royal Barge procession. Additionally, other contestants must also compete by carving the image of Thai people celebrating the King’s coronation on taro or by carving flower image on different types of fruits. In order to succeed in this carving contest, representatives from the Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts will be structuring the work piece, carving His Majesty the King’s face, lion, and people in different gestures. Whereas, students of the Faculty of Home Economics will be conducting detailed carving including the royal regalia, flowers, and Thai traditional decorating with banana leaves will also be done. The integration of Home Economics and Fine Arts knowledge could represent the work with beauty and delicacy.        

    Besides, as a lecturer and team leader of the Department of Sculpture, Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Mr. Ditawat Innuputh also added, “Distinctiveness of our team presentation under the theme of “In Celebration of His Majesty King Rama X’s Supreme Glory on the Auspicious Occasion of the Royal Coronation” is to present carving techniques integrating with delicacy of fresh flower and banana leaf decoration. All team members put their full efforts on creating their master piece by applying what they have learned from their mentors in the past. It could be said that this artistic creation was exquisitely done particularly when carved into his Majesty the King’s face and Thai people’s figures in different motions. Through this contest experience, students from the Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts were able to learn and gain direct experience outside the classroom including working techniques, work responsibilities, teamwork experience and enabling to exchange their knowledge between students from Home Economics and Fine Arts. We ourselves also witnessed and received new experience in Visual Arts especially when Home Economics students did their delicate carving.  We would like to give our appreciations for the organizer of this event who had been creating a center stage for young gens to prove their skills and help Thailand preserves its Thai traditional and cultural heritage and in hope that it will become world heritage in the upcoming future.       

    A student of Creative Invention Technology Department in the Faculty of Home Economics, Mr. Thiraknathip Paitoon nicknamed, “Pla”, proudly revealed that this is his second year in participating the contest and he was very proud of making himself successful as well as the university. Concerning his responsibilities during the contest, he had been in charge of flowers and banana leaf decoration. His sophisticated art work had been conducted with his full effort in order to pay his tribute to the King Rama X’s Coronation. He had endeavored his best to dedicate what he had learned and put them into his work and he also believed that exchanging knowledge between representatives of the two faculties had been fruitful and yet very useful for them to step up to another level. 

           Mr. Pooviput Supasrikongput or ‘Nut’ who is a student representative from the Department of Creative Invention Technology in the Faculty of Home Economics revealed that the distinctiveness of his work was based on its structure design that could interpret and respond to the contest theme; moreover, the work itself could be interpreted by the audience effortlessly. Integrating his all-round knowledge including carving, flower arrangement and banana leaf decoration and team working during the contest was considered to be very challenging. Because of his attempt to retain his last year “Fresh fruit and Vegetable Carving Queen’s Cup”, he felt the pressure was pushing on him and his teammates and thus, a lot of meetings had been conducted comprehensively and planning must be responding to what the competition needs from the contestants. Finally, he also believed that working with people from different department had been helping him improve himself and ready for his future career.          

        Mr. Cholatakarn Naentao nicknamed, ‘Poo’, a student of Sculpture Department, Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, stated his opinion that this is his first time in the competition and he had put his full efforts on his work. He also revealed that everyone in the team had planned their own works and collaborate with their team members successfully. He believed that all works had obstacles but with full determination, all problems could be resolved and the work would turn out to be positive for both the audience and the maker. Regarding to his work, his responsibilities are fresh flowers decoration, foam-making and other detail works. All of responsibilities were done with his well-acquired artistic experience that could be integrated with Home Economics’ knowledge. Personally, he believed that every single jigsaw of the team seems to be important but predominantly the special attention must be paid to the carving of His Majesty the King’s face and his regalia which require skills and time.            

           “Kwan” or Miss. Kwanwadee Pootaona, a student of Sculpture Department, Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, shared her thoughts that she felt proud and glad to be a part of this artistic creation and be able to cooperate with team members from his Sculpture Department. His responsibilities are to carve foam into people in different motions including the action motion of celebrating King Rama X’s coronation. She believed that the achievement was made resulting from the knowledge integration of both faculties whether their delicate fruit and vegetable carving techniques, artistic arrangement, and sculpture carving that created a masterpiece being admired by judges and public. She also wanted to give appreciation to faculties of teachers from both Home Economics and Fine and Applied Arts, RMUTT who had been supporting, giving knowledge and experience to them to help create the fine work.        

One of the Faculty of Home Economics alumni, ‘Boy’ or Mr. Pattanapong Kerdpoot said that he was very proud to be a part of the team that won the Queen’s Cup and definitely glad to make his beloved university reputable. Referring to his responsibilities to the team, he was in charge of precisely and effortlessly carving 3 of the 5 King’s regalia including The Royal Fan and Fly Whisk or “Walawichani” and Royal barge Suphannahong. The carve work had been accomplished and successfully won the contest because of the collaboration between representatives from each faculty.  

Lasting 10 consecutive days, integration of knowledge had been conducted, direct experience had been gained, problems have been solved, collaboration among team members had been made and without a doubt the success had been dedicated to teamwork, eagerness, and punctuality of team members who tried their best for their institution.