Philip Cornwel-Smith

Freelance Writer on Asian Culture

Philip Cornwel-Smith is a British writer based in Thailand since 1994. A guidebook writer for Time Out in London, he became founding editor of Bangkok’s first city magazine, Metro. Upon going freelance he wrote/edited the Time Out Bangkok city guides as well as other guidebooks and pens articles in publications such as Nikkei, The Guardian, The Economist, Mekong Review and Architecture Asia.

His pioneering book Very Thai: Everyday Popular Culture has so influenced Thai arts, design and media that it became an artefact in six exhibitions, while a show of 70 photographs from Very Thai outside CentralWorld was seen by millions. Its follow-up, Very Bangkok, re-interprets the city through the senses, subcultures and multiple perspectives.

Philip has co-curated exhibition ‘Invisible Things’ at TCDC Chiang Mai and TCDC Bangkok. Very Bangkok was the subject of the Bangkok Pavilion at the 2021 Countless Cities biennale in Italy.

He often gives public talks. Recent venues include the Ghost 2565 art triennal, the Brand Identity & Typography Symposium in Bangkok, and TEDx Chiang Mai.