Bio

Kanokpan (Gem) Lao-Araya is originally from Nan province in the northern region of Thailand, also known as Lanna. She is a full-time economist working for the Asian Development Bank. Her current post is Country Direct of the Bhutan Resident Mission in Thimphu, Bhutan. Art has been an integral part of Gem's life since childhood. She mainly painted in acrylic and oil before studying lacquer painting in 2005 while living in Hanoi, Vietnam. Gem also writes poems about her global lifestyle and her philosophy of coping with life’s normal frustrations by savoring its simple joys. Throughout, Gem remains an optimist whose idealism is conveyed in all of her art.