Phanganist.com is celebrating its 7 years anniversary on March the 8th and we have a special event for you with the one and only Job2do playing at Phanganist Hostel!
But before then we thought we’d give you an insight behind the scenes to the brains of the machine.
Who’s the team behind Phanganist, what’s it like working for us and what exactly do we do?
First up is Emma who has been editor of Phanganist for a year and a half now…
“I met Sharon whilst I was painting a mural in Baan Kai, obviously I had seen him around at the parties taking photos before. He actually invited me in to do an artist interview but when I eventually went to see him he told me he needed an editor. I ended up writing my own interview!
I do a bit of everything now! I’m mainly responsible for the article content on Phanganist so I write articles, do interviews with lots of people and so on but over time I have learnt a lot and Sharon has passed me a lot of his work including design, photography and all the things he doesn’t wanna do now he’s a big boss ha-ha!
It’s great fun to work with the famous Shazza, he is a good boss and has become one of my best friends on the island! The whole Phanganist team get on very well and that’s important, we have a laugh with and at each other and I feel very proud to be responsible for the project that he and Linda set up.
He has taught me many things which I now use in everyday life and in my art career with Star Lab Industries as well so this is priceless to me.
One of the best things about my job is meeting all of the amazing people that live and work here, local thai people from the community as well as westerners. I’ve met some good friends this way which I am so thankful for, people that are here working hard and on a mission like myself!
The Phanganist Hostel is becoming a nice little hub and we actually have a proper office now! I love the combination that Phanganist has done with Drop In Bar, it’s made my day much more sociable having the other staff here and I feel like the Phanganist family has grown in a good way.
It’s a real honour to be part of the Phanganist 7 year anniversary, Sharon best buy cake!... Keep on smashing it!!”.
We asked Sharon his thoughts on his 7 year Phanganist Anniversary;
“Time pases so quick when you’re having fun! 7 years is like one year of dog life…”
Always a man of many words…
Linda who is part of the original Phanganist family tells her story...
We were here travelling through. Getting a bit bored maybe of doing nothing. I was writing and Sharon was painting and then he began photography. He thought of making a magazine out of what we wrote and shot and Sharon made it happen!! Slowly he started getting a site made through a friend and we began to run it like a magazine... Now it's a hostel and a restaurant on top ha-ha!
Sharon and I were the only two on the mag for the first few years. I wrote everything, went to interviews and out for articles while Sharon did everything else.
I am in the process of doing a Bachelor Degree so now I focus on finishing this and getting new and good ideas for the whole of Phanganist.
I’ve been partnered up with Sharon since 2009 so it's like a family relation, a love and hate relationship I think you call it Ha-ha!
I love to be a part of Phanganist, it has been fun but also lots of hard work. But for me and I think for Sharon too, it has been a little like having a baby growing up step by step and with lots of love for our creation. I am very impressed with where our love and hard work has brought us today!!
The best bit is to have been part of something that we both wanted to grow and expand and become its own little thing and that is what we are doing now I guess. Watching our baby grow up!
Phanganist Hostel is a new baby and sister to our magazine and it has been very exciting to see it develop into this! Thanks to Mette and Pi Toh, the owners of the space and partners of the hostel, of course also!
The next few months for me is booked up with finishing my Bachelor in Southeast Asia studies but I get to do it here! The best thing about living here is you can live your dream. If you have ideas or talents you can be allowed to try them out here. The island is full of people who kind of ran away from the established society back in western countries, who are tired of the way the world is working and are excited to try living in another way.
Here is a good collection of freaks and rebels together with runaways and hippies and everyone is determined to live life in a different way and hence the space to do so between each other is there, more than anywhere else I've been!
My anniversary message? Happy Birthday Baby, I love you!
Come and celebrate with us on the 8th of March with Job2do, a Thai band that is famous throughout thanks to their song ‘Doo Ther Tum’ which is slightly responsible for the popularity of Reggae music in Thailand.
Job2do will be joined by warm up band Uchaka so it will be a great night of live music and fun although tickets are limited so be sure to get an early one for just 350 Baht!
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