The main draw-card of the New York show was the Pigalle armchair. This curvy topiary form, composed of wiry steel bound in abaca twine, was created by 31-year-old Kenneth Cobonpue from Cebu, Philippines. Cobonpue epitomizes the new aesthetic. He had previously designed an award-winning Yin & Yang armchair, a cubist wire framework wrapped in open-weave rattan.
"I wanted a feeling of lightness and transparency, but to achieve it using natural materials," Cobonpue explained. "We're all designers who share the same belief in the mixture of a modern sensibility and an Asian sensitivity to craftsmanship and natural materials."
The modern-thinking Movement 8 was nurtured by two design gurus: Ms Araceli Pinto-Mansor, executive director of the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM), a semi-governmental body promoting Filipino products; and curator Budji Layug, one of the country's most successful interior designers. They invited ten designers to contribute to the image-raising effort and expose their work to a global market-with unprecedented success.
The FAME show's Best Display booth, showing new products by Padua International, presents the statuesque Gia lamp in beached Philippine mahogany with her wide cylindrical shade flaunting a faux-capiz finish. Fine leather armchairs are complemented by black wood accents featuring a hand carved, indented treatment inspired by lfugao artefacts. Designs by Val Padilla for Padua International.
The folkloric sofa, Laso (loop), is a mixed-media design featuring flattened bamboo, leather, mat-weave, and whole rattan vines, bent to demonstrate the extreme flexibility of the material; by Ramon Castellanos, Disegno en Asia (Cebu).
Comments Mansor: "We're starting to create sophisticated designs for the modern world! Although the Philippines offers neither high technology, nor formal training or government support to boost the furniture industry with more global exposure and focused efforts like these, design-consciousness is being raised- and will filter down to the rest of the industry." Mansor calls the main characteristic of Philippine designs a soulful creativity. "Filipinos have innate talent and creativity with natural materials-but up to now, our products have been too ethnic," she says. "We have to uplift our whole image for the sophisticated global market."
Earning international recognition has been a slow process and a constant dream long nurtured by Budji Layug. His design-driven circle of Movement 8 produced new furnishings embodying a common sensibility: clean, contemporary lines, very moderne profiles (between Art Deco and Bauhaus), and sleek geometric forms with the natural feel of indigenous materials. Presenting new items of wood, glass, stainless steel, leather, bamboo, abaca-hemp and rattan, Layug imbues each Movement 8 setting with a light, resort-like feel, but an unmistakable aura of sophistication. "Many items follow a stylish modernity that harks back to the '50s but with a more refined feel."
The prime achievement of Movement 8 has been elevating the Philippine image and a design-driven consciousness within the industry. Having Filipino-made furnishings recognized for their creative and innovative designs in the highly competitive (i.e. price-driven) Asian market.
Industry pioneer Nicholaas de Lange muses on Filipinos and their talent for design: "They are quick to absorb trends. They are not just manufacturers, but generally have an appreciation of style from living with varied colonial masters." Filipinos have the ability to 'make do' with perennially limited resources- this has naturally bred the talent for creativity which is the cornerstone of the Philippine industry today. When the supply of one particular material was diminishing, they moved to mixing materials... and the world was gifted with a new, relaxed yet stylish look. Style watcher Elsa Klensch named it "Asian Fusion".
Not long ago, the country was merely a source of raw materials. From a middling cottage industry 20 years ago, the vital design sector has emerged, putting the Philippines firmly on the map with its furniture, decorative products and household accessories. Two Philippine institutions played big roles in the organic evolution of crafts and design: The Design Center and CITEM. The Design Center, created in 1973 and directed by modern artist Arturo Luz, was the first body to focus research, development and experiment upon humble native materials. Its mission was to design aesthetic products for the country's nascent crafts industry. Hands-on graduates of Luz Design Center include Val Padilla, Dem Bitantes, Joel Enriquez, Jun Delingon, Olive Loyola-all seasoned designers today.
From 1984, it was CITEM-Ied by Mina Gabor, trade show ring leader-that fomented a dramatic crafts revolution. Seeing native handicrafts stagnating, Gabor pulled Philippine woodcraft and basketry out of the doldrums and led the way into the export world. She recognized talent, rallied local designers, and stimulated both design and markets. Foreign consultants were contracted to train, expose, and teach local suppliers "to satisfy the overseas markets".
"Mina had vision, drive and brazenent husiasm," says Chito Vijandre, the eclectic interior designer. "She had both gut-f eel and vision. She took our tourist crafts out of the mould of long-necked wooden heads and Miss Universe chairs. She had foresight, challenged designers, upgraded skills, then flogged our stuff to the world!" Gabor stimulated small-time provincial cottage industries to go urban. She implemented exhibitions in the country and overseas. Under her gaze, the Philippines metamorphed itself from supplier of raw materials and low-cost manufacturer to a creative innovator of hand-crafted decor. Cebu, in particular, developed her small furniture trade into a major industry, turning out fanciful mixed-media products. These creative designs garnered, for the whole Philippine industry, the moniker " the Milan of Asia"
In the '80s Filipino architects and designers earned individual successes. In 1987, Ched Berenguer-Topacio's "Petal Collection" of wrought iron and leather furniture was awarded the highly covet ed Roscoe Award. About the same time, rustic-chic bamboo furniture by Budji Layug was selling to Bloomingdales, USA. Layug became a brand-name designer for his graceful, well proportioned furnishings-especially his signature products which used bamboo and rattan. The Philippines gained a foothold as an innovative supplier of classy tropical furnishings, while Layug shone as the doyen of an organic moderne style.
Graceful 'cutgrass' resin accents by Louisa Robinson reach up to a multi-framed paper-art composite by Tess Pasola of Mindmasters Inc. Filipinos' new crafts designs have blithely crossed the line towards organic artistry.
lfugao Suite setting: black and gold bowl and matching mug are "vintage Lanelle Abueva" stoneware, on modern serving tray in black fossil stone and glass, by Leo Almeria.
The wiry oval seat by Davao-based Ann Pamintuan of The Gilded Expressions is an edgy sculpture that has won accolades in the West.
Fused metal wire as tealight ball by Ann Pamintuan.
Philippine furniture and crafts have, according to designer Chito Vijandre, reached another creative level in the new millennium. "Filipino designers are not trendsetters nor originators, but creative innovators. Best at handmade, handcrafted products, we have a realingenuity with natural materials - what high-tech machines cannot do! Very interesting things are happening now One company harnesses ethnic abaca-tnalak cloth and adds coco-bead trim- for the most chic pillows in town. In Davao new designers like Ann Pamintuan have been able to create something so very modern out of rustic methods and basic materials. Her creations of metal wire, welded and fused like a