“One of the reasons I focused on swimwear was to help women feel comfortable in their own skin, regardless of whether they’re skinny, tall or big,” she says.

Balek, who is half American, grew up as a “third culture kid”, splitting her childhood between Bangkok and the Thai countryside.

She studied shoe and fashion design in London. Her first break came in 2013, when she was a finalist (“the only Asian designer,” she points out) at WGSN's Global Fashion Awards and another competition organised by Women’s Wear Daily, which “opened many doors for me, as they gave me lots of advice”.

Balek decided to focus on swimwear because “Thailand is a country of beautiful beaches and I love the sea”, says Balek, who is based between Bangkok and New York and has properties all over Thailand, including houses on the island of Phuket.

Her brand is available at international stores such as Holt Renfrew in Canada, Farfetch online and through its own website. It has grown very quickly, thanks to the many celebrities seen wearing it, from Naomi Campbell to Chrissy Teigen, who made headlines in a gold gown from the label’s leisurewear line.

While this A-list exposure has propelled global growth, Balek believes that Thailand is much less influenced by international celebrities. “At first we didn’t do any publicity or dress any celebrities in Thailand,” she says. “But the product sold itself. I’m grateful for that because it means that I’m doing something right.”

An unlikely ally was the Thai transgender community, which embraced the brand when a famous blogger, Nisamanee Lertvorapong, wore a one-piece suit and gave Angelys Balek a shout out to her Instagram followers. “It was quite unexpected,” says Balek. “This transgender fashion blogger, who’s very beautiful, wore our swimwear and posted about it, telling her community that if you wear Angelys swimwear, the fabric holds so well that even before having the main operation you can hide your male parts.

“She said that only our brand helps the transgender community and after she tagged us, it blew up.”

This is yet another example of Balek’s democratic approach to designing swimwear, which is not as easy as it may sound, given the technical skills and awareness of body shapes involved when making such a specialised garment.

Balek attributes the success of her label partly to the countless tests and trials she goes through to get the fit right, and to her personal issues with body image. “I have gone through the very skinny stage,” she says. “But now I’m very comfortable with my body and well-being.”

While Balek admits that in Thailand, people are still very much into plastic surgery and the skinny “model type” body, she says that things have started to change with the rise of international influencers who don’t conform to that cookie-cutter mould.

“Thanks to people like Kim Kardashian, standards of beauty are changing in Asia too and it’s OK to have a bigger body and boobs,” Balek says. “It’s all in the mindset and when I do photo shoots I don’t just use young skinny girls, but all kinds.”

She reveals that she’s working on a capsule collection with fashion editor and street-style star Anna Dello Russo – the two bonded over their love of yoga and even shared the same instructor when Dello Russo visited Thailand last year – and has big plans for her brand. She doesn’t rule out expansion into lingerie, sportswear and even shoes one day.

There’s no question, she says, that whatever venture she embarks upon next, celebrating natural beauty will be her guiding principle.

“Just be happy with what nature gives you,” she takes pain to emphasise several times during our conversation, with the equanimity and poise of someone who’s 100 per cent comfortable in her own skin.