Ever found yourself lingering in front of estate agents’ windows or binging on a property show? Making a shortlist of locations or picking out furniture when you have no plans to buy? We are insanely curious about other people’s houses and if we don’t own a home we’d love to. If we do, we’d love a better one, or another one, or one that has had a makeover. In many ways, property fantasies are our escape from reality. We all like to think we have a property developer in us.
“Don’t we all demand for a change in life? Bore in the same old apartment? Looking for new place to invest? — “No matter who (or what) you are – human or animal, filthy rich or jobless poor – PZWORLD Properties book has offer all kinds of (the best) properties to fit all your needs; Finding land, investing, scheming, packing, moving, pest control, painting walls, replacing floors, and demolition! Looking for changes in you life? This is the book for you!“ – PZ Opassuksatit.
PZWORLD PROPERTIES is the follow-up to 2018-19’s super sold-out PZWorld Volume 1 and 2. It is the work of PZ and her many friends/contributors in disguise as properties gurus Doublet, Vaquera, Gab Bois, Sarah Andelman, D’Heygere, Claire Barrow, the list goes on!
Along with having published three books, PZ Opassuksatit, Thai-born Paris-based artist, founded PZtoday, an experimental image design and art direction lab. Over her decade in Paris, she has worked with brands like Helmut Lang, Vaquera, VETEMENTS, Doubet, Virgil Abloh and Marc Jacobs. Her art has been showcased globally, including at the Trading Museum in Paris, Gentle Monster in Korea and Dover Street Market. Additionally, PZ won the 50 NEW WAVE: Creatives from The Fashion Awards 2020 in the “Artist” category by the British Fashion Council.
We caught up with PZ in Paris before her PZWORLD PROPERTES OPEN HOUSE on 13 April at Monsieur Agent where she set up the real estate agency window over Easter weekend. For all the JK virtual insanity, this book is real. And many of the products are real too. New PZtoday products include the Carton Boxes T-shirt, Brick Candle, Keys Tag Earrings, Packing Tape Knitting Scarf, Door Knobs Bag, and XXL Shoes Carpet which will be on display for the first time and sale at the event!
PZWorld Properties is your third book-zine. What made you get into paper when we live in such a digital world?
I had no idea that I wanted to do print before, but when I finished at VETEMENTS where I did their books, I felt that to make artwork, like a painter, you need paper. After I left, IDEA Books came to me and asked if I wanted to do my own solo book. IDEA gave me the idea, that’s how I started PZWorld Volume 1 which was a homage to all of my favorite people. I loved how I could put all of my skills together.
Would you say that PZWorld Properties is your current mood? How did you choose the subject?
I wanted to move out. After Covid, I was a bit bored of living in Paris, it’s been nine going on ten years. This book is like my current situation. Volume 2 was inspired by my sister getting married. I thought that I would never have a wedding or get married, so I decided to create a book on it instead. Volume 3 began with research, you want to move out, but what do you do? Put money in the piggy bank, find the land, find the realtor, I want to capture all the steps from A to Z, but more of an absurd play on the property world. You look on Seloger/Zillow and you find one thing, you look in PZWorld and you can find something like worm properties or a house made from sugar cubes.
Volume 3 sees you collaborate with artists like Gab Bois, was she someone that you knew before?
Yes, I love her work, and we started to follow each other on Instagram, and then would meet whenever she was in Paris. Because of the property theme, I immediately thought of her for a sofa and asked what type of sofas she would like to sell and she came up with five. I would love to sit on her sofa and eat it.
You also have a double page with Doublet.
I’ve worked with them on several occasions including graphics and collaborations. I wanted to do a Tokyo apartment, so for this volume, I asked if they could send me a plan and they sent me this weird one, I don’t know if it is something real or not. It’s fun though because are always try to escape fashion and return back to art and design. Property is a new topic for us to work with, so all of the collaborations feel very new in a way, everyone has been very trusting. There are several artists that I did work with for the first time, like Julian Song Wanjie on After Life Home. In China, there is a tradition to burn money when someone in the family dies, even burn the house, car, or dress, so they can use it for the next life. Julian imagined property for the afterlife. Emma Drew Berson is new too, she is based in LA, I saw that she did a series on bees, and I was like “I need that bee property”!
There is also a termite property, duck, hedgehog, dog, ant.
And a butter house.
Can you tell me about 54 The Gate?
It was my first time to work with them. The Gate is an arts and resource center for adults with learning disabilities in London. They have amazing artists, so I went to London and we did a workshop creating our dream homes. Inside their houses are so amazing too. I’m super happy! This was one of my favorites.
Workshop name: DREAMZ HOUSE by PZtoday, Artists from 54thegate (London) — Mary, Simon, Jason, Michael, Labake, Duane, Eddy and Bryan, Instructor: PZ, Rory, Peter, Iris, Lena and Sep., Photographed by Peter Eason Daniels
What was your favorite part of working on Properties Volume 3?
I think just getting your brain spinning, is always fun. I love to see what people create as an image after we brainstorm.
It is as if you are doing property staging with all these artists! Did you go to any open houses?
They don’t have them here in France like in the States. In American series open houses look so fun, with champagne. I would love to be in one, I was obsessed, and then I wanted to create one.
Did you watch Selling Sunset? Epic Burgers and Botox open house.
I watched so many shows! I love Lunatics by Chris Lilley, one of the characters is a realtor, with a very big bum.
There is a lot of dry humor on the pages of Volume 3.
I wanted to make it like the house catalogs, from buying to selling or destroying the house. I asked the 4FSB from London to create some realtors then I formed the page of what they are selling. One of my friend’s mom, Delia De Simone, is a realtor so I had to get her to give us tips on selling and to buyers, so those a real tips. It is a very useful page.
What is her number one tip?
Location, location, location!
