CONTENT CREATOR MIRELLE PHACHAREEYA GRUENERT
Today we speak to Mirelle Phachareeya Grünert, a 25- year old German-Thai content creator and strategist based in Bangkok who works on producing high quality visuals for fashion and beauty brands. Prior she worked as a television commercial (TVC) model, appearing in international campaigns for companies like Coca Cola. These days her focus is on building her brand by sharing her travels, style and curated fashion trends on instagram.
I enjoy connecting with people from all over the world and the greater perspective that affords. Seeing how a beauty blogger in Europe would highlight different features vs. one in Asia, how the same broad fashion trends are adapted differently across countries depending on cultural, even weather-specific nuances, for example.
Tell us about your greatest inspirations and influences Mirelle.
My greatest inspiration is someone who enjoys life whatever hardship they went through. I think life’s greatest pleasure is simply enjoying our time here and trying not to waste it. It always makes me so happy seeing elderlies smile, as for me that is a mark of life well-lived . As for grumpy old folks? Sometimes I see them and worry their grumpiness comes from regret over not doing something they wanted to do that they are now too old to. I don’t want to be one of those people regretting my life. We only have one right?
How are the current trends in technology and innovation affecting your work as a creative?
Fashion is by its very nature creative and innovative, so it comes as little surprise that the industry is typically amongst the first to embrace new technologies. As an aspiring trendsetter, I therefore also have to keep up with the latest technological trends. Specifically, blockchain technology and the NFTs they enable are becoming increasingly adopted by fashion companies, both to appeal to new market segments and to simply offer new products. Early signs point to there being a strong demand for such products. For example, Dolce & Gabbana auctioned off its nine-piece collection of NFTs for $5.7 million in October last year.
This has led me to educate myself on blockchain technologies, NFTs, and also the platforms that purport to combine them with fashion (e.g. Exclusible x Hogan) with an eye on working with them in the near future.
We’d love to hear more about your creative process. How do you normally tend to work from the point you have an idea to finally having your work ready to share with the world?
When working on specific collabs I start with consulting the client to ensure I deliver something they want. The most fun assignments however, are when the brand/client tells me I can shoot a campaign however I like, in which case I look at their current feed and ads and see how I could do something which ties into that, but with a quirky twist.
More specifically, I roughly follow these steps through each work cycle (2/3 days):
Catching-up with the latest fashion trends from established websites (e.g. Vogue), respected blog/bloggers, and select other content creators I admire.
Reaching out to clients/potential clients. This could be getting feedback on content pitches or inquiring about potential collaborations. Sometimes I reach out just to introduce myself and build my network for future projects.
Planning my feed. I spend 30 minutes to an hour planning my feed for the next campaign and how it would fit into my overall page. I look at everything from color composition to general aesthetics to ensure the campaign stands out, while also being consistent with my overall brand.
What do you think of the art world and how it works in general? Do you think it's also an industry that is in a continuous state of change?
The answer is probably as simple as the fact that people change. Over time, the new replaces the old. People are influenced by popular culture, especially social media etc. To the extent that art imitates life, or that the best art sheds light on some often overlooked aspect of it, as life and people evolve, so too must art.
I know people who exclusively love Old Masters and Impressionist paintings, and they are often the same folks who complain that street art and much of contemporary art lack the technical sophistication of Old Masters of the subtleties of the Impressionists. But today - in ways linked with the rise of social media - we see people with shortened attention spans, and with a democratization of voices - so it is only natural that art sometimes need to be more direct, more explicit, to command attention, while it certainly is no bad thing that even those without technical prowess with a brush can still have a platform to create.
Anything coming up that we should know about?
I recently did an interview with Vogue Thailand shedding light on being a content creator, which I am quite proud of. I also recently collaborated with two of my favourite beauty brands: Tom Ford and La Mer. Hopefully a few other exciting projects will come up soon. Nonetheless, I appreciate the opportunities this year has already brought, for me to have worked with so many leading brands and talented creatives, doing what I love!
What does well-being mean to you and anything in particular that you practice?
It is being healthy and happy. This would include the big things like having a clean bill of health, but also the little things that fulfill you, such as taking a walk in nature, or just doing something you always wanted to do which later on you’ll be proud of doing.
I would think that professionally, what the Japanese refers to as ikigai is not far off from what I have in mind as the gold standard, except I believe that one does not have to be “good” at what one chooses to do. Practice and more practice can get you there. And in fields such as fashion, good is so subjective. I don’t aspire to be better than other content creators. I just try to be better today than I was yesterday, and to be an ever-improving version of me.
Is there anything else you’d like to share?
Thank you for the opportunity to share my perspective. Having reconnected with my Thai roots and having branched out to work with established names in New York/US and Australia, I am looking to connect with content creators and brands in my other homeland, Germany. If any content creator stumbles across this article and wants to exchange views/anecdotes about fashion in Germany/Asia send me a message! My DM inbox is always open (but heavily screened haha).
Thank you for joining us today Mirelle, follow here.
Vogue:
https://www.vogue.co.th/videos/article/the-world-we-live-in-ep2
Haus of Jewelry:
https://hausofjewelry.com/pages/mirelle-x-haus-of-jewelry
Beaubit: (The website is currently updating)