Pack your Trunkh
Meet Dennis and Philip, the Australian owners of Trunkh, a unique boutique in the old part of Phnom Penh that mashes together creative design with Cambodian inspiration
Dennis Adolphe and Philip Moore are the charming Australian couple behind Trunkh, a small boutique occupying a century-old colonial townhouse in the heart of Phnom Penh's royal quarter. I'd already visited their store when it was in Siem Reap, but after they moved digs to the capital we ended up meeting at a mutual friend's birthday party at a lovely resort located upriver from the capital on the quiet banks of the Mekong. Wanting to learn more about their story and take on design, we set up an interview.
What is Trunkh and how did you become involved with it?
Trunkh was originally opened in 2012 down near the former White Building by two friends who wanted to put together a concept store of contemporary design as well as vintage items, with the angle being that everything had to be produced and sourced within Cambodia. We stumbled across Trunkh on a trip to Phnom Penh from Sydney in 2014 after it had relocated from its original location to Street 13 near the National Museum, where we met one of the owners, Marianne. Shortly after we returned from that trip we opened an online store and contacted her about stocking some Trunkh products, and our friendship with her grew over the next few years with our business dealings and subsequent buying trips through the region for our online business.
In early 2018 over a few wines with her on Facetime, Marianne happened to mention that she and her business partner were thinking about closing up shop. By that time, they only had the store in Siem Reap and had closed the Phnom Penh branch, but Marianne had an ageing parent in Australia and needed to be able to travel freely between Phnom Penh and Adelaide, while her business partner was in his mid 70s and wanted to retire. We’d already bought an apartment in Phnom Penh and were in the process of renovating it at that stage with a view to moving here permanently within the next five years, so flagged that we might be interested in taking over Trunkh.
She called us about a week later to say that they’d decided they were done, so after kicking around some numbers we came up with a figure that everyone was happy with and the rest is history. We came to Cambodia in April 2018 to sign the contracts and buy the business, returned to Australia, resigned from our jobs and began packing up our lives. We arrived in Cambodia to live permanently three months later on 5 July.
What’s the story behind the unusual shop name, Trunkh?
It’s pretty simple: the name Trunkh is a combination of a travel trunk, or a treasure chest, while ‘kh’ is the common abbreviation for Khmer or Cambodian websites.
So what exactly do you sell? Are there any bestsellers?
Trunkh was the first Cambodia-centric lifestyle brand. - it's a treasure trove of everything we love about the Kingdom of Wonder. We have searched out ordinary objects and daily traditions of Cambodian rural, home and street life to make a unique and eclectic collection. You’ll find our in-house designed and made clothing, hand printed t-shirts, tea-towels, old Khmer kitsch, tin ware, art, homewares, ceramics and soft furnishings. We design a lot of our collection ourselves, as well as seeking out unique products from local and international Khmer artists. It’s hard to say what our best seller is, as that tends to change throughout the year with the different holidays as they come up. When we first took over Trunkh we were based up in Siem Reap so it was mainly tourist focused items; Angkor Wat T-shirts and tea towels, and locally crafted pieces that had a particular Cambodian feel were definitely a priority then.
With Covid keeping international travelers out of the country and our relocation to Phnom Penh, we’ve had to evolve and change our approach to cater to the tastes and needs of the ex-pat community that live here on a permanent or semi-permanent basis. So now our more popular items tend to be our clothing and homeware designs that we produce in-house, along with jewelry and home décor items. We had a crazy run on one-off cushion designs when Phnom Penh was in full lockdown; it felt like everyone was stuck at home and thinking to themselves “Damn, I have some ugly cushions…”.
As well as your own handmade pieces, you also sell other people's handiwork – do you have any particular favorites?
We have a carefully curated mix of art, both vintage and original items as well as handcrafted jewelry pieces, naturally all made and designed in Cambodia. It’s hard to pick any favorites but if we had to it would be the beautiful ‘Garden of Desire’ jewelry by Piseth Ly for his amazing craftmanship in his silver pieces that are inspired by Cambodian flora and fauna. Phnom Penh based artist El Capo is also a big favorite for his street-art take on vintage Khmer advertising signs, and we also love the creative whimsy of Nowhere Studio in their postcards, art prints and beautiful ceramics.
The shop is in a beautiful French colonial era townhouse, how did you discover it, and how was the renovation?
Philip is a bit of a real estate nerd, so often he surfs real estate websites for fun (who does that?). The ground floor of the building had actually been available for about 12 months prior to us first looking at it while ‘Dine in the Dark’ (a sensory fine dining experience) were occupying the upstairs levels, but that just wouldn’t have worked for us in terms of space and security. Then one night over a glass of wine doing his nerdy real estate thing after we’d closed the shop in Siem Reap, Philip came across the listing again but this time it was for the entire building. That was a game changer, and so he contacted the agent and we came down to Phnom Penh the next week to look at it.
The building was honestly in fairly bad disrepair when we first sighted it, housing a family of squatters and a dozen feral cats. Because of its previous incarnation, all the windows were blacked out and there were heavy drapes everywhere. We walked away initially as it was just too big and expensive as an undertaking to refurbish, but the agent asked us to come back for another look and chat. He advised us the building owner wanted to invest into bringing his building back to its former glory but he was in France and could not oversee the restoration. Dennis, having worked as a painter and handyman during periods between films was able to step in as foreman and the owners representative onsite. The approach to renovation work in Cambodia is vastly different to what it is in Australia or Europe, so there was a lot of guidance (not to mention finger pointing, and practical demonstrations given Dennis’ level of Khmer) required to ensure we got the finish the owner and we wanted, on time and within budget. It was a massive undertaking, but all of the major work was done in 4 weeks.
Why did you move Trunkh from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh?
To be honest, the Siem Reap store was going really well. We had great staff that were like our small Khmer family, we had a great high season and business was still steady during the low season, we were shipping goods internationally, had a high rating on Tripadvisor, and a good brand and growing reputation in Cambodia. Then - Covid…
We were still doing well but it was a marked downturn in the number of customers coming through the door. By the end of February things had changed a lot. We were having a few zero days but compared to others we did ok. By late February the tourists had mostly returned to their home countries, the government had closed all schools, and reports were coming in that the land borders were about to close. The Khmer New Year four day festival had been cancelled to stop locals traveling to their home villages, travel restriction were put in place so that you could not leave your province. Everyone was wearing a mask and temperature checks and hand sanitizing wherever you went.
In early March we had had 12 days straight with zero customers coming into the store because there was just no one around. A lot of the businesses around us had already closed for a period and so we decided that we would close for a month or so to save on utilities. Our landlord gave us the month of March rent free as a Covid discount, but our lease was due to expire on 1 May, and we figured we could also renegotiate then.
By end of March things in Siem Reap were looking bleak and weren’t going to improve anytime soon. No international tourists because of no flights, and really who would want to travel and holiday during a pandemic? We entered into negotiations with our landlord as our lease was due for renewal, but unfortunately, we couldn’t agree on a figure that was viable for us given the lack of tourists in town so we made the hard call to not renew the lease and close the doors. Fortunately, we lived in a big traditional wooden Khmer house so we were able to move the entire store into it (even if it did feel like we were living in the Trunkh stockroom), with the plan of reopening somewhere else in Siem Reap once things improved later on. Instead, we moved to Phnom Penh.
You've lived in both now, what are the biggest differences?
Before Cambodia we had only ever lived in Sydney, and we were supposed to move to Phnom Penh but we bought the business in Siem Reap after only being there for three days on holidays mainly to see the temples, so the biggest shock about Siem Reap was it was like moving to a country town, but as we slowed down a bit and got used to the pace it was a nice change. We lived in a big renovated Khmer wooden house down a red dirt road, which was just 10 minutes from the shop. The kids playing in the street would always say hello and the neighbors would give you an accepting nod. We paid for eight truckloads of grey stone to be dumped along our street just before wet season so the road would not become red slush, and the locals all came out and helped spread the stones. They were very happy and it was a win-win for everyone. We are now happy in Phnom Penh as being ‘city’ boys it feels more like home for us, but we still love to visit Siem Reap because we have made lifelong friends there - both local and expat.
What were your first impressions of Southeast Asian life?
After a few hiccups with red tape, such as getting our work and business permits, difficulties getting registered with the local district office to be allowed to live in the area, and learning the Khmer way of doing things, we honestly had massive culture shock - our Western sensibilities and expectations were getting in the way. However, once we relaxed into it, it all made sense. We now call those days where everything just goes pear shaped ‘Cambo Days’; you just have to accept that nothing is going to go your way on a Cambo Day, so instead just ride the wave and go and buy a $1 beer at the end of the day, have a laugh about it, and move on knowing tomorrow will be better.
Let's talk about your backgrounds: where are you from?
Before the current adventure, Philip’s background was in the film, TV and theatre working in costume for about 20 years before moving into company management with Opera Australia and then as a senior artist manager for one of Australia’s leading classical talent management companies. Dennis initially qualified as a hairdresser, did further training in make-up artistry and then worked for over 28 years as a hair and make-up artist in the film and television industry. Also he has worked in a leading international cosmetics house as a make-up trainer and head of campus, and for the retail sector, managing stores for several leading Australian and fashion brands.
When and where did you meet, was it through film work?
A chance encounter at the iconic Oxford Hotel in Sydney on New Year’s Day 2004, but we had a lot in common being from a film and TV background and the love of beer!
What are your biggest influences when it comes to design?
Our main design influence tends to be the fabrics themselves when we find them. It’s a kind of on-the-run approach to design, but it really is about finding a particular print or texture of fabric at one of our suppliers and just having an idea jump out. We’re always on the lookout, and we can never walk past even the most nondescript little local neighborhood market because you never know when you’re going to strike gold! We also take inspiration from common things that were seen in Cambodia during its ‘60s heyday, things like small metal chairs, folding stools, and beware of dog signage.
Where else do you like to shop in Phnom Penh (and why)?
To tell you the truth we don’t really shop for the sake of shopping. Apart from not having much leisure time to get out and about given we’re open six days a week, when we left Australia we pretty much had to sell off everything we owned, and so made a conscious decision at that point to keep our possessions to a bare minimum from then on. But an absolute go-to come Christmas and birthdays for us is Space Four Zero Wang Dang Doodle on Street 240 ½ for great finds. Our main shopping adventures are when we travel as we love to explore shops in other countries and cities to see how they merchandise, what they stock, what is the in forefront and what their add-ons are.
If you could bring one shop to the capital, what would it be?
Dennis: I’d have to honestly say Bunnings Hardware in Australia. It’s full of every conceivable tool and gadget known to man, and they also do a mean sausage sizzle!
Philip: As sad as it sounds, there is a fabric and haberdashery wholesaler in Surry Hills in Sydney called E&M Greenfield that is my go-to one-stop shop for any kind of supply involved for tailoring and sewing. Having a branch of that here would save me a lot of time riding all over the city on my motorcycle to get the supplies I need for Trunkh!
Where do you enjoy shopping and traveling in the world?
We’ve travelled quite a lot around Vietnam and loved the craziness of both Saigon and Hanoi, the beaches up the coast, the stunning beauty of the Mekong Delta and the karst mountains up in Halong Bay. As a souvenir, we always buy ourselves a unique piece to mark a trip and search out kooky shops to find it. We generally walk whenever we can so as not to miss anything on the street or down side alleys. We once bought a pig covered in bottle caps that is here with us in pride of place on our memento table. We also love a good flea market, so Marché Malassis au Puces de St-Ouen in Paris and Market dels Encants in central Barcelona are two of our favorite places in the world!
You're going on a trip, what do you pack in your suitcase?
Dennis: Warm comfy clothes, Nike Airs, swimmers, valium (I can’t sleep on planes), cap for sunny days, and a hand crocheted beanie by my mum for bloody hotel aircons!
Philip: Track pants and hoodie for the plane are a must (comfort first), but apart from that my packing is very much dictated by where we are going. Apart from the usual I always travel with two classic linen shirts, one black and one white as it makes it easy to quickly look half decent for unexpected invitations out when meeting with locals.
If you had to buy a vintage travel trunk, what would it be?
Is there any other vintage travel trunk than the Louis Vuitton Steamer Trunk?