The Artist House Bangkok
309, 28 Phet Kasem Rd, Khuha Sawan, Phasi Charoen, Bangkok 10160
Baan Silapin is Bangkok's most earnest grassroots arts hub. Founded in 2010 by artist and conservationist Chumphon Akhpantanond, the space hosts the Kum Nai Hun Lakon Lek puppet troupe, one of the last active practitioners of hun lakhon lek, performing Ramayana-inspired scenes most afternoons at 14:00. Worth visiting for the performance alone, and staying for the Saturday bracelet and mask-painting sessions.
Baan Silapin sits on the quiet Thonburi bank of Khlong Bang Luang, a 200-year-old timber house converted into a working cultural centre for Bangkok's traditional arts community. The venue is built around three distinct offerings that run simultaneously on most days.
The ground floor functions as an open gallery and workshop space. Visitors find prints, drawings, lacquerwork, puppet figures, and khon masks arranged across a generous open plan. Hands-on workshops run regularly: mask painting (320 baht), canvas painting, book-cover decoration, and beaded bracelet making at 100 to 180 baht per strand, with materials supplied on site. On Sundays, a free ornament-making session is open to anyone without prior booking.
The upper rooms house a rotating gallery of paintings and photographs by resident and visiting Thai artists, leaning toward canal-life subject matter and classical motifs that echo the surrounding Thonburi neighbourhood.
The centrepiece performance is the hun lakhon lek puppet show staged by the Kum Nai Hun Lakon Lek troupe, who present scenes drawn from Thai folklore and the Ramayana on most afternoons at 14:00, except Wednesdays. Hun lakhon lek is recognised as one of the last surviving forms of traditional Thai rod puppetry dating to the Rama VI era, and the troupe trains approximately fifteen artists in the craft on an ongoing basis. Each performance differs in story, rotating through narratives featuring Hanuman, Tosakan, and other mythological figures.
There is no entrance fee to the property. The gallery and workshop area are open daily from 10:00 to 18:00. Donations to the puppet troupe are welcomed. Arriving by canal boat via Khlong Bang Luang adds a practical layer of atmosphere, as the house faces the waterway directly. The surrounding neighbourhood of Thonburi retains old shop houses, neighbourhood temples, and noodle vendors that reinforce the sense that this corner of Bangkok operates on a different schedule from the city centre.