Today’s A Journey through Aesthetic Realms will be presented in Thai, with subtitles in Arabic, Aulacese (Vietnamese), Chinese, English, French, German, Hungarian, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Mongolian, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Thai.

Talented viewers, welcome to A Journey through Aesthetic Realms on Supreme Master Television.

Carving fruits and vegetables for presentation and food decoration is considered a national art in Thailand. Whether during religious offerings or for weddings and festive occasions, exquisite vibrant flowers sculpted from fresh carrots, pumpkins or other colorful plant-based materials are sure to attract the attention of appreciative guests.

Today in our program, we will meet master fruit carver Mr. Rojunwan Pairach and find out how these amazing artworks are created. Like the arts of flower arrangements, banana leaf folding, classical Thai dance, and dress making, fruit carving was regarded as an important skill of aristocratic women, who used to receive special training in the Siamese Grand Palace.

It is considered an elegant way to express the hospitality of the host and make the food more appealing. At the same time, the artist derives feelings of inner peace and satisfaction during the creative process.

In the olden days, Thai people had a lot of spare time and people lived in large families, with many people to look after. People in the capital city had to send family members into the royal palace, and these people would get the opportunity to see beautiful things in the palace. When these beautiful things reached the outside, noble people wanted these things in their homes as well. Thus, fruit carving was introduced to the everyday people.

The tradition started from the Loi Kratong Festival of 1364 in Suokothai, the capital of a north central Thai kingdom. King Phra Ruang’s attendant Nang Noppharat had an idea of how to please her beloved king during the lamp floating ceremony. She made flowers and animal figures out of fruits and vegetables, and used them to decorate a floating lamp, forming it into the shape of a large water lily. The king was delighted to see it and designated it as a national art heritage.

Since then, fruit carving has become an imperial art and indispensable entertainment during festivals. In the 19th century, the custom received keen royal patronage, as reflected in the poetry of His Majesty King Rama II, whose verses expressed the beauty of fruit and vegetable carving. It was once again revived in the 1930s when Phraya Sarasatpraphan, the Minister of Education, organized a year-long training course for traditional arts. Today, fruit carving is offered as an elective course from elementary schools through colleges in Thailand, and is increasingly practiced throughout the world.

Besides years of training, fruit sculpting requires creativity, patience, and undivided concentration. Professional carvers use a sharp, pointed knife called a “bird’s beak” for precise cuts. To avoid discoloration of the fruits, all blades are made with stainless steel or bronze. Special tools are also used depending on the fruit and the design. For example, a seeding knife is for removing melon seeds; a wave knife produces zigzag patterns; a cookie cutter creates a variety of shapes; a melon scoop makes fruit balls for decoration. For most work, however, only two knives are needed.

We use only two types of knives. One is for cutting and peeling and smoothing into shapes that we want. Whether it is a lotus shape or a round shape, we will use this knife. For carving we will use this knife to carve designs that we want. The index finger will lead the knife and we turn the knife like this. Some people hold it like they are holding chopsticks. They hold it like this. These people can turn the knife very efficiently. Or when we carve watermelon, hold it like this.

To avoid waste and bruising the fruits and vegetables, cuts are minimized. It is also important to select the appropriate starting material according to the desired outcome. Many fruits and vegetables can be used for carving. These include carrots, pumpkins, melons, pineapples, papayas, apples, cantaloupes, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, shallots, cabbage, taro, yam, green mangoes, guavas, jujubes, sapodillas, rose apples, beets, and potatoes.

With regards to the fruit, try to choose a fruit that is firm. But some people are very talented. Some people can carve even ripe mango.

Why do we use carrots and pumpkin?

Because they are firm plants. Not too firm and not too loose, easy to practice. Other than these, the papaya is also firm and it is also sticky, but the whiteness of the papaya makes the details hard to see. Thus papayas are for the advanced. All in all, carrots and pumpkin are the best for beginners.

Depending on the purpose, fruits and vegetables can be carved into the shape of various objects such as flowers, mushrooms, animals, mythical figures, boats, and even serving containers. Before we take a look at the basic round form, Mr. Pairach shows us a variety of designs that can be created from the lotus shape

There are two kinds of fruit carving

First is the lotus shape which looks like this. The other is the round shape.

The lotus shape consists of 7 to 8 standard designs.

The first step is the pointy design, which looks like this. It has a pointy and thin pattern. We call these types of designs Rak Rae Flower. The second design is also pointy like the first design, but it will be a bit wider. From this we will go to this one. Do it the same way, but we will also pierce it. It is called Rak Rae Flower with no pollen. We do the same thing again, but this time there is pollen. The pollen looks like this. Finally we do this. It is called the Rak Rae with Krajung design. This will incorporate the Thai pattern to form Rak Rae Flower with Pointy design.

We can apply it to make another design called the Stripe design. All the shapes are the same, but we will trim it like a star fruit, like this. Then we put in the stripes and it looks quite beautiful.

The Rak Rae Flower not only has a pointy shape, it also has an obtuse shape. We will call this the Zinnia Flower pattern. Zinnia Flower looks like this.

Some people call this the Pine design. It is similar to pine like this. This will have a curved pattern and this design which we will do next is of fish. Some people call this the Fish Scale design.

From these designs we will move to Happy Blossoming Flower design. Happy Blossoming Flower design will have the petals concaved like this, which is similar to the Rak Rae with no pollen design. However, the Rak Rae Flower design has pointy petals, but the Happy Blossoming Flower design has more rounded petals.

When we do the lotus shape like this, we need to know how to do the petals as well. Therefore, we call these Spiral designs. Spiral designs are done by creating a twisting effect by using our hands. We need to do this one as well. That is all for the lotus shape.

Who would have thought that so many designs can be created from such a simple shape!

Next, we will do the round design. First, from a large piece of raw material like this – this is pumpkin – we will smooth it so that we have this shape. Then we cut it into pieces like this. We keep smoothing it further, so that it comes out like this. We will start with the corners. From the four corners we sculpt it like a diamond into eight corners, and then finish off the details. Carefully slope down.

You can see it clearly. Roughly it will look like this. See, I made a big piece, so that we can see it clearly. But for round pieces to be used as flowers, they should be a little rounder. Now, from this, if we want it like this, we will cut some of it off.

Now let’s find out how a beautiful gerbera flower is chiseled, beginning with a round base material.

We will start with the pollen first. Use a knife that has been freshly sharpened. We will use it to make intricate pollen. In the first layer, they can still be rough. But in the second layer, they must be detailed. It will get smaller and smaller. Now, for the petals, segment it first.

Gerbera flowers have little petals. We will not do grooves in them in the next layer. Make the petals quite thin. I make a big flower so that you can see. So it has many layers. One more layer and it will be complete. We finish up the detail. Now it is done.

This is a Gerbera.

Good artists not only pay attention to every detail of their creation, they also naturally avoid waste and minimize the impact of their work on the environment.

If anyone comes to learn with me and throws out scraps, this will make me very sad, because all these things are beneficial. Carrots have high amounts of beta-carotene. We can make carrot soup. Pumpkin soup is filled with vitamin A.

These peels we will use as leaves. We will make large leaves, small leaves, whatever we like. We will peel it a little. And we will use this section to carve into leaves. It will be used as decoration. We cut it into leaf shapes. The leaves are not of the same size, just like in nature.

We sincerely thank Mr. Rojunwan Pairach for a fascinating demonstration of the elegant art of Thai fruit and vegetable carving. We wish this time- honored tradition be carried forward and widely appreciated as peace, abundance, and happiness grace the friendly people of the Land of Smiles.

Kind-hearted viewers, thank you for your presence on today’s A Journey through Aesthetic Realms on Supreme Master Television. Up next is Vegetarianism: The Noble Way of Living, after Noteworthy News. May your life be blessed with miracles and heavenly inspirations.