For its 10th anniversary, POPUPASIA® has received permission to bring back an illustration by Bangkok-based artist Nut Dao, one of the winners of Pop Up Asia Makers in Thailand in 2019.
The artwork first appeared as the POPUPASIA® key visual in 2019. Seven years later, it returns with a new meaning—not only as a reminder of the creators who once worked hard to find their place, but also as a symbol of the maker generation that has grown together across Asia.
About Nut Dao: Turning Inner Feelings into Visual Stories
Image credits: Nut Dao’s Sati Coffee Project
Nut Dao, whose full name is Nuttapong Daovichitr, is an illustrator and graphic designer born in Bangkok, Thailand, in 1991.
He studied Visual Communication Design at Silpakorn University before joining PRACTICAL Design Studio, one of Thailand’s leading design teams. There, he worked across corporate identity, exhibitions, events, books, typography, and project management. His experience translating abstract ideas into clear visual concepts played an important role in shaping his current approach to illustration.
Nut Dao’s work often explores inner emotions and ordinary states of everyday life. Through human figures, familiar objects, and simple situations, he creates visual stories that make complex or unspoken feelings easier to understand.
Image credits: Nut Dao’s Painting Project
His illustrations are known for their simple yet carefully detailed lines. Although his scenes may initially appear quiet or ordinary, they often reveal deeper emotions, personal reflections, and observations about human experience.
A major turning point in his international career came when he exhibited at UNKNOWN ASIA in 2016. This led to opportunities in Japan and collaborations with clients such as Peach Aviation and Olive Lounge by Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, as well as projects for magazines, hotels, restaurants, commercial spaces, and lifestyle brands.
Image credits: Nut Dao’s LaVie Magazine Project
Today, his practice extends beyond editorial illustration to branding, packaging, hospitality projects, ceramics, painting, and other creative disciplines. Despite this range, he maintains a consistent and recognizable visual language.
For Nut Dao, illustration is more than a profession. It is a way to understand the world, connect with people, and express his inner self.
❀ How Nut Dao Became Part of POPUPASIA®
In 2019, POPUPASIA® and the Thai creative platform happening jointly organized Pop Up Asia Makers in Thailand. Nut Dao was selected as one of the program’s winners, and his illustration was later used as the key visual for POPUPASIA® 2019.
For POPUPASIA®, the image came to represent a group of creators moving forward and attempting to enter a narrow gate—a symbol of the limited space available to independent creators searching for recognition, opportunities, and a stage for their work.
POPUPASIA® and happening continued the program in 2020, creating further opportunities for Thai creators to connect with the wider Asian creative market.
Introducing happening, Thailand’s Creative Platform .✦ ݁˖
Founded in Thailand in 2007 by Vip Buraphadeja and his partners, happening began as a magazine dedicated to art and entertainment.
Rather than treating entertainment as celebrity news alone, happening introduced music, photography, independent publishing, handmade design, visual art, and other forms of creative culture through thoughtful editorial content.
Over time, happening developed beyond a magazine into a wider creative platform. Through happening & friends, it provides artists, illustrators, authors, musicians, filmmakers, designers, publishers, and creative producers with opportunities to present and sell their original work.
Its purpose is not only to promote creative products, but also to help artists reach new audiences, build sustainable careers, and become part of a supportive creative community.
.☘︎ The Collaboration Between happening and POPUPASIA®
happening has long been one of POPUPASIA®’s key partners in Thailand. It has introduced and recommended several Thai illustrators to POPUPASIA®, including Nut Dao.
Together, the two organizations held Pop Up Asia Makers in Thailand in 2019 and 2020, connecting Thai creators with opportunities to participate in POPUPASIA® and engage with audiences beyond Thailand.
Their collaboration also extended to the Bangkok Illustration Fair, or BKKIF. The first BKKIF was held online in 2021 and organized by happening, decembell, and What If, with support from Thailand’s illustration and creative communities.
Image credits: Nut Dao’s Happening Postcard Project
During the event, POPUPASIA® representative Jerry Yen joined the international live talk “Illustration: What the World Wants?” The discussion explored opportunities in the Taiwanese and Japanese illustration markets and shared perspectives on how Thai illustrators could present their work internationally.
These collaborations reflect a shared commitment between happening and POPUPASIA®:
supporting Asian creators, building cross-border opportunities, and helping creative work reach wider audiences and markets.
From a Narrow Gate to an Open Gateway ༄.°
When POPUPASIA® first encountered Nut Dao’s artwork, it reflected creators struggling to move through a narrow entrance into the worlds of creativity and entrepreneurship.
Ten years into the POPUPASIA® journey, the same image can now be understood differently.
The people in the illustration are no longer competing to enter a gate open to only a few. Instead, they are moving together through a wider gateway—one shaped by creators, brands, buyers, partners, organizers, and audiences.
Over the past decade, POPUPASIA® has witnessed handmade creation develop from a niche pursuit into a diverse landscape of creativity, brand building, and entrepreneurship.
This is also the meaning behind the POPUPASIA® 10th-anniversary theme, EXPO THE WORLD:
The world is not something presented by only a few people.
It is something created together by everyone who participates.
This year, partners from Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, and other parts of Asia will meet again. From handmade creation to brand development, and from personal passion to entrepreneurship, every participant is part of the maker generation shaping this new landscape.
A flourishing creative generation is not built overnight.
It is a landscape we have created together over ten years.
From November 12 to 15, 2026, we invite you to return to POPUPASIA® to celebrate its 10th anniversary and the generation we have built together.
★ POPUPASIA® 10th Anniversary Commemorative Items ★
To celebrate its 10th anniversary,
POPUPASIA® has created a commemorative collection featuring Nut Dao’s licensed illustration.
The collection includes a commemorative bag, a special-edition ticket, and a coffee or black tea sachet, available through designated ticket purchases, group bookings, and on-site activities.
POPUPASIA® 10th Anniversary Nut Dao Authorized Illustration Commemorative Bag
Available as a gift with the purchase of selected ticket packages.
POPUPASIA® 10th Anniversary Nut Dao Authorized Illustration Commemorative Ticket
Available exclusively through group ticket purchases.
POPUPASIA® 10th Anniversary Nut Dao Authorized Illustration Coffee or Black Tea Sachet
Available for redemption through selected on-site activities.
⤷ Looking Back at Our Creative Journey with Thailand
Learn more about happening, the Bangkok Illustration Fair, Nut Dao, and the previous collaboration between happening and POPUPASIA®:
The 2021 Bangkok Illustration Fair (BKKIF) Concludes Successfully
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