Our company, “Shades”, grew from a seed of an idea sewn during a discussion between two friends, our founders Graeme Chuck and David Lourey, while sailing the magical waters of Phuket’s Phang Nga Bay a few weeks before the tsunami of December 2004.

The original idea, and our main activity for the first 12 months of business, was to manufacture specialist awnings and covers for yachts and power boats.

Our first employees, who are still with us today, were talented local seamstresses and stainless steel tradesmen, and a small shop house was our first factory.

Phuket’s building boom changed all that…. with so many orders and inquiries for shade sails, awnings and tensioned fabric structures the company’s focus soon changed to meet the demand, and we formed our existing alliance with one of Australia’s most successful architectural fabric companies, Shade to Order Pty Ltd. to enable us to take on larger and more challenging jobs.

Thanks to the talents of local steel, stainless steel  and fabric tradespeople the company has matured to meet the ever growing market for best quality, stylish, modern and functional awnings, shade sails, tensioned fabric structures, fabric roofing and umbrellas in Phuket, Koh Samui, Phang Nga, Krabi and other South East Asian countries.

Everyone at Shades takes great pride in our product, its quality, appeal and function. We take pride in our professionalism, in “doing it better” and we value most of all our continuing commitment to achieving excellence.