WIPO Appoints Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana Rajakanya of Thailand as Ambassador for Fashion and Design

Geneva, May 28, 2026
PR/2026/953

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) today appointed Her Royal Highness Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana Rajakanya of the Kingdom of Thailand as WIPO Ambassador for Fashion and Design, recognizing Her Royal Highness’s outstanding contributions to creativity, innovation and the strategic use of intellectual property (IP).

In a ceremony at WIPO headquarters, Director General Daren Tang noted that Her Royal Highness had gained 541 IP assets during her long fashion career and that she holds registered trademarks in 34 countries for her range of branded jewelry, leather goods and home décor. Her iconic creative identities, including the Peacock motif and the “SR” monogram, combine cultural expression with commercial strength and show how strategic IP use can help drive enterprise growth, said Mr. Tang.

Her Royal Highness has shown “a consistent, deliberate practice of using intellectual property as a foundation for building a lasting creative enterprise. … Yet Her Royal Highness's work extends well beyond her personal portfolio. Across Thailand, she has worked directly with artisans and craftspeople, helping communities take their traditional heritage and develop it into products that compete in contemporary markets. Her experience in bringing together heritage, design and intellectual property is a model that others should emulate,” said Director General Tang.

The Director General further added: “That is precisely the purpose of this Ambassadorship, which we hope will allow Her Royal Highness to extend her work beyond Thailand - supporting communities in other countries to find new potential in their own creative traditions, through designs, branding and the strategic use of intellectual property.”

Mr. Tang thanked the Kingdom of Thailand for hosting an exhibition at WIPO that highlights Her Royal Highness’s distinctive IP holdings, including examples of products from her fashion lines, as well as traditional methods of creation used by Thai artisans. 

“By graciously bestowing original fabric patterns upon local weavers and artisans throughout the Kingdom, Your Royal Highness has sustainably generated livelihoods for more than 800,000 families across all 77 provinces across the country, creating economic value exceeding 200 billion baht, or more than 5.3 billion euros. … These royal endeavors demonstrate to creators and designers around the world that intellectual property, when rooted in cultural heritage, can generate enduring social and economic value for generations to come,” said Suphajee Suthumpun, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Commerce of the Kingdom of Thailand.

The appointment reflects a long-standing engagement of the Thai Royal Family with intellectual property. In 2009, His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Rama IX, became the first recipient of the WIPO Global Leader Award, in recognition of his contributions as an inventor and his commitment to innovation. Her Royal Highness received the WIPO Award for Creative Excellence in August 2025.