On the banks of the mae kok river, off the road leading to or from, the sleepy low rise city of Chiang Rai in Northern Thailand, is Doi Din Dang, or Red Clay Hill, the studio of Somluk Pantiboon, Thai artist and ceramist. On entering this oasis of creative calm one becomes aware, from the glint of glaze peeking through the copse of young tress, that something special is about to happen, as if one is entering a universe unlike its immediate surrounds; a space that is yet completely at ease with the fluid and, in recent times, contested environment beyond its bounds.