VELA: A DINING SET SHAPED BY THE SEA, TIME, AND SHARED LIVING

A dining set can do more than complete a room. It can shape the way people gather, interact, and remember the home around it.

For VELA, the starting point was not simply the idea of creating a new furniture collection. It began with a specific home, a personal vision, and a design conversation shaped by the themes of the sea and time, or Talay and Vela in Thai.

Originally developed for Toon Artiwara and Koy Ratchawin Kongmalai’s modern luxury beach house in Phuket, the VELA sub-collection was specially created for the home as a dining set of table and chairs. Through the design collaboration between Dots Design Studio and PODIUM, the project presents a well-considered balance of beach house character, contemporary craftsmanship, and a way of living centered on family interaction, expressed through each original piece.

What began as a design response to one particular home later evolved into something with wider meaning. As a brand-new sub-collection, this design project reflects how a personal vision can grow into a product shared with others.

With its carefully shaped woodwork, woven details, and contemporary design language, VELA offers a new perspective on modern beach house furniture and designer dining furniture made in Thailand.

A Personal Brief That Became a Product Story

The story of VELA began with a home shaped by its owners’ vision. Introduced through a personal connection, the project set out to create a special dining furniture set for a beach house in Phuket. Designed with a strong sense of identity, the pieces were intended to carry the feeling of the sea and the way time is shared within the home.

For Krit Phutpim of Dots Design Studio, the idea was not to approach the furniture as a typical custom-made solution. Instead, he believed that a home of this character deserved to be developed in collaboration with a furniture brand known for quality and craftsmanship, one capable of translating design imagination into a resolved and lasting product. That is where PODIUM entered the story.

Together, the aim was to create a dining set that could carry the relaxed mood of a beach house while remaining suitable for a contemporary interior setting. That thinking became the foundation of VELA.

The Models of VELA Sub-collection

VELA is composed of three designs that come together as one considered dining set. Each piece plays a different role, yet all are connected through the same design language, creating a sub-collection that feels calm, cohesive, and complete.

At the center is ‘VELA Table’, a generous dining table designed to bring people together in a way that feels both relaxed and composed. One of its most distinctive details is found at the base, where a woven element introduces a crafted character through an expressive weaving pattern, giving the piece a distinctive identity. This detail allows the table to stand out with a sense of craftsmanship, while preserving the strength and architectural presence of its solid wood form.

The table is available in three lengths, 2.4, 2.6, and 2.8 meters, allowing it to respond to different scales of dining space. Its softened lines keep the design approachable within the home, while its overall presence allows it to become a natural center piece for shared time and togetherness.

Supporting the table are two chair designs, each offering its own character within the setting. ‘VELA Chair-01’, the armchair, brings a more embracing presence to the dining experience. Its proportions are designed to feel supportive and comfortable without appearing oversized, while the woven backrest introduces a clear expression of craftsmanship.

To create a chair that feels more relevant to contemporary living, the woven detail is paired with an upholstered seat, fabric or leather. This combination features added comfort and ease while giving the design a balanced relationship between traditional material sensibility and modern use.

Alongside it, ‘VELA Chair-02’ offers a lighter and more streamlined expression as a side chair. Without arms and slightly more compact in form, it creates a more open rhythm around the table, helping the overall arrangement feel airy, natural, and visually balanced. While simpler in profile, it remains closely connected to the same woven character and carefully crafted woodwork.

Together, these three pieces form a dining set that carries fine woodwork, thoughtful detailing, and a relaxed atmosphere for meaningful time shared at home.

Designed for Family Interaction

VELA was imagined as more than furniture for adults alone. From early in the design process, there was also an interest in how the pieces might connect with children and the everyday life of the home.

This idea is especially present in the table. An early concept explored the base as something almost tunnel-like, inspired by the way children naturally crawl under tables and turn them into places of play. Although that exact production idea evolved during development, the spirit of it remained. The table was still designed with the understanding that, in family life, furniture often becomes part of a child’s imagination as much as it serves a practical purpose.

In this way, VELA becomes part of family interaction and the small moments that unfold at home. For adults, it serves everyday dining and gathering. For children, it can become a place of curiosity, play, and imagination beneath and around the table.

Beyond function, it supports relationships, shared use, and memories formed across generations.

From Personal Requirements to a Design Shared with Many

What makes VELA especially meaningful is not only where it began, but what that beginning makes possible for others. First developed from the specific needs of one home, it carries a level of thoughtfulness shaped by real living, real family interaction, and a clear sense of place. This gives the design more than a distinctive appearance. It gives it practicality and emotional depth.

By bridging design intention and production, PODIUM helped transform a highly specific brief into a dining set that could be meaningfully shared with others, particularly those homeowners and designers seeking dining furniture for modern luxury homes, beach house interiors, and contemporary family spaces defined by natural materials and quality craftsmanship.

In that sense, this sub-collection is more than a design developed for one house. It is a specially crafted dining furniture set, allowing others to share in the same qualities that shaped its origin: a relaxed atmosphere, the warmth of natural materials, and a way of living centered on togetherness.

Whether placed in a beach house, a second home, or a contemporary city residence, VELA fits beautifully into interiors that value relaxed atmospheres and high-quality dining spaces for family living.

Adaptable for Different Interior Directions

Beyond the light-toned oak and natural paper cord presented in this version, PODIUM also offers a wide range of oak color finishes, allowing each dining set to respond more closely to different interior moods and project requirements. For spaces seeking another expression, the woven element can also be developed in Textilene, a durable synthetic fiber that offers greater resilience.

This flexibility allows VELA to adapt to a variety of interior directions, making it relevant not only to one home, but to many ways of living.