Where does the name Sanooke come from?
I’m sure you have a few questions about the name Sanooke - What does it mean? Where does the word come from? Is it even a word? Maybe you weren’t wondering about any of this. Either way, you’ll still get the answers!
The story goes back to the spring of 2021. Only 10 days after finishing my undergraduate degree at Union College, I left North America for the first time and began an amazing fellowship opportunity teaching English in Northern Thailand. Not knowing a single word of Thai, I started living and working in a rural mountain village where I was the only foreigner within a 50 mile radius. Calling it culture shock would’ve been an understatement.
Culture shock in this case though wasn’t a bad thing. In fact, the most “shocking” parts of Thai culture were how welcoming the people were (especially compared to the typical New Yorker lol), how fresh and delicious the food was, and most importantly, how Thai people embrace and incorporate fun into their daily lives.
Embracing and incorporating fun into daily life was one of the greatest takeaways from my time abroad. Before going to Thailand, I didn’t realize life in the U.S. was so high-stress and fast-paced since that was all I knew. Even our downtime is fast-paced; I’m sure you’ve heard friends and coworkers saying “work hard, play hard.” It was only through experiencing and embracing a new culture that I realized life doesn’t have to be that way.
Which brings me to Sanooke. As a literal translation, “sanooke - สนุก” means “fun” in Thai. Sidenote: you may also see it spelled as sanuk, or sanook, which are also correct since there’s no standard latinization from Thai. To Thai people, sanooke is much more than a word. Sanooke is an ethos describing the importance of fun as a regular and necessary part of a fulfilling life; professionally, religiously, and personally. Compared to the Western culture I grew up in, and especially American culture, where work and play are kept separate, the Thai sense of sanooke had a profound impact on my view of enjoying all aspects of life.
That’s why three years after first experiencing sanooke myself, I have decided to launch a toy company that believes in bringing the ethos behind sanooke through the most fun medium we could think of - TOYS! Our hope is that the toys we create here at Sanooke will help bring a little bit more sanooke to the lives of everyone who plays with them!
Thank you so much for embarking on this journey with us! Sign up for our newsletter for all of the updates on our products and business as we get closer to launching!
Tyler Hummer, Founder
