A Decade of Wonder: rites of passage only Wonderfruit can give you

Throughout the years and iterations, Wonderfruit has grown not just as a festival, but as a living, breathing world that’s shaped by the people who return to it year after year.

To mark this milestone, we turned to the Wonderers themselves; those who have walked The Fields since the early editions, contributed to its stages and installations, discovered lifelong friends, found new artistic paths, or simply surrendered to the magic of wandering without expectation.

From the artists who have performed (and will perform), the festival-goers who return religiously, to the architect behind the iconic Solar Village—which features prominently in many of the recollections below—a common thread unites their memories: Wonderfruit is a space that invites possibility. It is a backdrop for connection, a catalyst for creativity, a playground for sound and culture, and a testament to what can emerge when a festival is built on trust, openness, artistry, and care.

As the festival reaches its tenth edition, we not only look back at this shared journey through the eyes of the community that built it, but we also look forward.

Scroll down after the 10 recollections to explore what awaits in December: notable sonic experiences, evolving venues, and unmissable sensory adventures that will entice both loyal and first-time Wonderers in The Fields.

Wonderfruit has become my backdrop for community and connection in Southeast Asia. I go every year, and each time I am blessed to meet people from around the world who are not there just to party, but to reconnect, learn, and recharge for the year ahead. Many of them I only see at Wonderfruit, which makes the festival feel like a family reunion.

I felt that most clearly during a brilliant disco, funk, and house set by Nightmares on Wax at the Neramit stage in 2022. For a couple of hours the crowd moved as one. People danced, sang, and looked after each other in a way I had never experienced at a festival before. It was pure magic and it pushed me to start my own musical journey and to carry that same sense of community to festivals around the world.

For me, Wonderfruit is not just an event on the calendar. It is a living example of what a festival community can be and what every festival should strive to build.

Every time I leave The Fields and return to my everyday life, I carry pieces of that week with me. The friendships, the music, the small moments of kindness between strangers all remind me that Wonderfruit is proof we can build spaces rooted in care, creativity, and respect. That is the kind of magic I want to keep chasing and sharing long after the music stops and the Fields dust settles. And I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Wonderfruit holds a special place in my heart because it’s where I did my first full length live set- an ambient set at Enfold. It marks the beginning of a new chapter—Xiaolin 2.0. Towards the end of the pandemic from 2021-2023, was a time of self-searching and confusion. I was working a full time desk job, which was so busy that I didn’t DJ for over a year. I couldn’t really listen to dance music anymore, felt lost and resorted inwards to improve my mental state and reconnect with the body, thus beginning a deep journey into the tranquil yet complex world of ambient (along with daily meditation and yoga routines).

The project started as 'The Space Between Us'; an audiovisual collaboration with my friend Stephanie Teng, which was only 25 minutes long. I had been working up the courage for a couple years to do a full live set, but never had enough motivation to complete it. In 2023, coincidentally the only spot available for me as a first timer at Wonderfruit in 2023 was Enfold; Ouissam asked, “Can you play ambient?” And that felt like a nudge for me to share my secret ambient side quest. I told him “Actually, could I try ambient live?”. He instantly agreed and asked, “Great, can you do 90 minutes?”.

I was shocked by his confidence in me, and I forced myself to rise to the challenge. I wrote music everyday for 2-3 weeks. Those 90 minutes not only healed me, but it was also the first time in all the years of making music, that I felt my innermost self being heard, understood and held. I realised that this live set format, as daunting as it is, was a real medium where I could express my stories freely, truthfully without fear of being judged, without people pleasing. Because what healed me can heal others too. For someone who normally struggles to communicate their own true feelings, this was a huge revelation and a gift.

Now the live set has three different sub-formats (Sun, Moon & Body), and it’s going to places I never imagined it would go. This is all thanks to Ouissam’s initial support and trust, for allowing me a bigger platform to share how I feel inside. The mystical energy of the Fields was the perfect setting, gazing up into the moonlight shining down; the Moon felt gentle, soft and loving—almost smiling as if she knew. I felt like I was home. Thank you Wonderfruit team, forever grateful.

Wonderfruit is one of those festivals that truly connects people through experiences. It feels like only yesterday that I last sat in The Fields where I saw Laraaji perform for the very first time in my life as the Thai sky slowly turned orange, which resulted in a new friendship and collaboration. I'd been a fan of Laraaji's work ever since I came across his 'Day of Radiance' album during my late teenage years, going down the rabbit hole of Eno's 'Ambient' series...So I got real excited when our paths finally crossed at Wonderfruit.

I sat down in the dry field about an hour early, peacefully watching the sun slowly set behind the stage on which he was setting up and tuning his zither and various other instruments... Some audience members were confused as to whether this figure, fully dressed in orange, had already started the set or not, that's how blissful the act of Laraaji tuning his instruments was. It made me chuckle in joy and appreciation for just how beautiful and powerful his aura as a human being is.

During the entire performance I was thinking of Hatis (Noit), who unfortunately missed out on the experience, as I imagined her voice dancing with Laraaji under the orange sky. Which is exactly what I proposed to him shortly after he returned home, and I'm so thankful that he agreed to contribute to the 'Aura Reworks' project in such a meaningful way.

With the festival celebrating its 10th edition this winter, it’s a real honour to be invited to co-curate the programme again and return with five Erased Tapes artists across four different stages. As every year, it’s safe to assume that I’ll still be spending most of my time at the Molam Bus stage, immersing myself in the sounds of centuries-old traditions.

Out of all the festivals I experienced over the years, I literally can’t recommend this one highly enough—not only culturally, but also environmentally, as one of the most conscious music festivals out there.

What to say about Wonderfruit? It’s not something that fits into a box, nor just another music festival—it has to be experienced.

My wife, Melissa, and I have been going since the second edition, and for us it’s become an annual pilgrimage. It’s an experience that, if you let it, carries you to a place of profound beauty. It is joy, it is wow, it is togetherness.

To first-time wanderers we always say: know the programme, but don’t cling to it. Surrender and let it take you to places and experiences you never expected. Follow invitations and new sounds, camp inside the grounds, rest when needed, stay open-minded.

My favourite memory isn’t one moment, but something deeply personal: three years ago we arrived as a broken couple on the edge of parting ways. Wonderfruit had other plans though and in our surrender it led us on a journey that set in motion deep healing. It was not planned but simply unfolded.

So we return with gratitude—and we now look forward to seeing a maturing Wonderfruit reach its 10th edition: a new beginning that must not be missed.

To me, Wonderfruit is about wandering and getting lost for five days and four nights. Being guided around by the spirit of the land which is the collective consciousness of all beings in the Fields and being pleasantly surprised and pampered by an amazing level of food, music and experience.

Not a single year have I looked at the programme, line-up, stages for two reasons:

1. You most probably won't end up at the stage you're planning to cause there're so many amazing things out there that you end up doing whatever the spirit of Wonderfruit leads you to.
2. The discovery of wonderful Wonderfruit-y things that you're meant to find (to feed your soul) is much better when you have no expectations.

Emil (my husband) and I have been going for 10 years now and for 10 years Wonderfruit has delivered pleasant surprises, always evolving.

Most memorable experience of Wonderfruit:
- Partaking in a weaving-a-golf-cart workshop with cut (waste) fabric.
- Being so touched at the amazing fluffy omelet-on-rice stall by one of the Wonderfruit founder's kid (I'm an egg-loving person!).
- Discovering my love (and talent!) for natural jewellery-making.
- Finding a home under the giant tree by Solar stage, soaking in the vibes.
- Seeing my coconut-dunking idea come to life (that I sent as an idea-feedback)
- Learning a breathing technique from a random workshop that ended up helping me and others in civil society movement of Indonesia.
- On the Sunday just walking around and coming across this most amazing band play for intermission that touched myself and Emil so deeply we ended up going backstage and giving them a group hug.

TLDR: Get lost and you will find yourself in the wonderful world of Wonderfruit!

One of my favorite memories of Wonderfruit happened well before I ever arrived on the field. In the early years, I submitted a lofty, over-intellectualised plan to deliver a series of art workshops within a conceptual installation. Looking back, my proposed "collaborative-situational-praxis-of-aesthetic-emergence" was absolutely ridiculous, yet the art team accepted the concept note and worked with me to refine the plans for what became "The Aviary".

In creative fields, especially when engaging with corporate entities, we are rarely told to be stranger, more ambitious, or to go deeper within ourselves—but that is exactly what the Wonderfruit art team encouraged. These meetings would set the tone for my entire understanding of the festival: it is a space to dream.

This ethos of trust now defines how I view all the festival's creative programming, from the installations to the music, food, and workshops. Wonderfruit has found a way to exist as a backdrop, empowering the diverse cluster of creatives it attracts to deliver the best of who they are. At any scale of project management, it takes courage for curators to step back, not instruct, and simply trust those vibrating on a different frequency to pursue their path to creative freedom.

Who would imagine this vibrant creative synergy was available on an unassuming, dusty field in Pattaya? I love visiting Wonderfruit; for a few brief days each year, it is a space where the face of future Thai artistry is busily taking shape.

Ultimately, the Wonderfruit Story for me is all about a visionary founder, Pete, who created a place for the Solar Stage as the heart of the festival, a prominent place in a cultural panoply, fulfilling its role of renewal and change.

Year after year they believed I could do better such that over the course of our first five years we added parts and assembled them in substantially different ways, culminating in the wild return from COVID-19 and our original five-story tower.

Seeing that the many of the original frame parts were limiting our options, Wonderfruit invested in a whole new base structure extending more to the sides and not so thrill inducingly upward, creating the double structure, box seating version that we have today.

New this year is more colourful fabric, shade and streamers, celebrating cycles of life.

Since 2019, the Fields of Wonderfruit have been a space for discovering new music, talents, friends, and forms of expression. Since then, it has become a yearly reunion with friends from different parts of the world-one we never miss.

On December 15, 2019, at the Solar Village Stage on a Sunday morning, soaking in a set by Acid Pauli, I, Beatrice Nannini (Rani), was so deeply moved by the music that I instantly knew that my next goal in life was to learn DJ-ing.

That same morning, I, Naveen Murugan (Raja)—who hadn’t met Rani yet—was wandering the fields dressed in white feathers. Little did I know that Rani was dressed in black feathers. A match was made even before we met.

As we are a COVID-19 couple, and Raja Rani was a COVID-19 project, our very first dream was to see our kimonos waving in the fields and to play music to friends and friends-to-be. That dream came true at Wonderfruit 2024, where we draped festival-goers in colourful kimonos at the “Taste of Wonder” market, and on Saturday night, played a set at the “Taste of Wonder” stage-where our little ecosystem of music, fashion and sustainability came to life in full form.

This year is extra special as we celebrate a Decade of Wonder in the fields, marking our fifth year of presence. We will be serving sexy threads and spicy beats at Taste of Wonder again!

My most unique Wonderfruit experience has always been the magic moments I’ve shared with my closest friends. There’s something heartfelt about exploring new music together, discovering new artists, and seeing our favourites in such a special environment.

In 2019, I experienced some unforgettable sets from Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Floating Points to Acid Pauli’s morning set which made that year especially meaningful to me.

From the artist's side, Wonderfruit has also been an important stage in my journey. It gave me the chance to perform both with my live band and as a DJ, and each appearance introduced my music to new listeners and new friends.

Last year was a highlight: I performed with The Photo Sticker Machine and also hosted the Cacao Ceremony Bangkok with a vocal-led meditation set. It was a new kind of performance for me—intimate, experimental, and deeply connective—and Wonderfruit was a good place to explore it.

Wonderfruit has been a pinnacle of joy and community since I first stepped into its grounds in 2017. We had our tickets refunded in 2016 as the passing of the King had placed Thailand in mourning for a year. But I always ponder on what it would have been like in 2016, as every year since has been an insanely different experience. Watching a festival grow in our pastures has been one of the most gratuitous experiences of my life.

One of my fondest memories from the fields is from the very first Friday night. We had gone berserk all night, frolicking through the fields, wandering as one does, and finally at 5am, the friends who had been for 2015 made a marching order for us to make our way to Solar. My husband and I were bewildered—what is this Solar Stage that we had never been to all night? We arrived to this colossal labyrinth of wood and humans: a literal playground for adults, beautiful humans everywhere just arriving from all four corners of the festival—the real ones, at least. But then again, 2017 was still a time where most of the festival-goers were the real ones. Real party animals.

We sat on the grass, still elated from Richie Hawtin’s intensely rich and textured Plastikman-esque set, and we listened to Eduardo Castillo play his first-ever ambient set—not sure if it was his first ever, but he made it sound like that after when he made a speech. During this two-hour set, we watched the sun rise so perfectly over the mountain, as the Solar stage was positioned perfectly for just that.

There’s an energy at 7am, when the sun begins to peak, that is incomparable to any other feeling in the world. When everyone who still remains basically comes together to watch this daily phenomenon we usually take for granted. It is peaceful, it is pure unadulterated joy, and it is a sign of continuation. This is when I knew that Wonderfruit would become the festival it is today—a total success. A place for us as Asians to come together and become one, even if just for a weekend.

After a decade of stories, it becomes clear that Wonderfruit has never stayed still, and now, we turn to the next chapter.

A Decade of Wonder builds on everything Wonderers have discovered over the past ten iterations, evolving the spaces, deepening the sound journeys, and introducing entirely new realms to explore.

If Wonderfruit’s first decade was about defining the spirit of the festival, this next one begins with expanding it.

Much of the transformation begins with the ground beneath everyone’s feet. Since launching its rewilding effort in 2022, Wonderfruit has planted more than 32,000 trees across The Fields, with thousands more arriving this year to restore the water’s edge, expand bamboo barriers and continue regenerating its forests.

Across The Fields, expanded structures rise not as temporary venues but as extensions of the festival’s spirit.

Living Village, home of Creature Stage, has been reimagined by Design Qua Studio as an amphitheatre-style space with enhanced acoustics and fresh landscaping; a place designed for collective listening.

In Molam World, a new wooden theatre, Haan Molam, becomes a permanent cultural anchor blending Isaan architecture with global folk influences.

And then there is Baan Bardo, a highlight for anyone drawn to experimental sound and shifting realities. Designed by artist Wit Pimkanchanapong, this maze-like pavilion uses kinetic panels to reconfigure itself throughout the day. It hosts everything from multisensory rituals to nighttime DJ sets curated with ROVR—the anti-algorithm discovery platform—who will also build a pirate-style radio hub at Neramit and curate late-night sonic showcases at SOT.

The exploration of mind and movement continues at Wonderness, now positioned as the centre of a Torus Energy Field, where workshops, breathwork, somatic practices and rituals shape daily programming.

The festival’s abundant activities continue exploring how frequencies can shape mood and awareness by connecting musicians with scientists, spiritual practitioners and artists from other disciplines.

Sonic Minds, created with MSCTY Studio, now extends across multiple venues, appearing at Enfold, Creature Stage and Forest Stage, inviting Wonderers to tune in, zone out, and listen closely.

Food culture also receives upgrades.

Wonder Kitchen relocates to a scenic new home opposite the orchard, offering shared meals with mountain views. Open Kitchen becomes a two-floor, women-led culinary ecosystem with Pa Chan and Lady GooGoo guiding workshops and home-style cooking.

This December, allow yourself to drift between art installations, daytime DJ sets, forest workshops, herbal enclaves, open-air galleries, brunch discos, dyeing sessions, meditation rituals, sound ecology teachings and countless other experiences, all which unfold not only through the night but also during daylight hours.

For more information on the festival’s programming, head to Wonderfruit’s A Guide to Wonder here.

See you in The Fields.

Amira Waworuntu is Mixmag Asia’s Managing Editor, follow her on Instagram.

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