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i saw design: mid-century wallpapers

I wanted to update my laptop with a new wallpaper. I used to have an illustration of a shoe with argyle socks from Fossil graphic artist Brent Couchman. But because I recently started using my laptop for presentations in serious board meetings, I thought I needed a more professional, serious-looking but very designer-ly wallpaper (yeah, my concerns in life, haha!). The Chucks with argyle socks wallpaper got compliments from the designers. I’m not sure though if the older clients/bosses find it “appropriate”.

Thankfully, I stumbled upon these free desktop wallpapers of mid-century chairs from French digital artist and designer David Vineis! I was choosing between the Panton Chair, the Ball Chair, and the Ghost Chair. To be consistent with the company’s colors, I went with the Ball Chair.

Hope you’ll find something that you like!

diy: houses by night

I just came back from an exhausting trip to Singapore and China. And this diy project made me wish I had a few hours to look around the city and take pictures! This is a great way to display photos from your travels especially if you like taking pictures of buildings and houses. You can find the tutorial here.

Happy Monday!

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work, work, work and a tiny bit of leisure

I like travelling in general. But after two weeks of marathon business trips to Vietnam and China for a company that I’ve recently joined, I realized that it will take some time for me to learn how to like this kind of travelling. To be honest, I don’t like plane rides and long hours waiting in the airport. The two trips felt like extra long commutes going to a meeting, spending most of my time inside the airport and on the road.

On the bright side, the hotels where we stayed (Silkpath Hotel in Hanoi and Crowne Plaza Hotel in Shenzhen) were really nice! It’s also a bonus to be travelling with a “demanding” boss because he managed to get our rooms upgraded!

So there, that’s my excuse for the silence here in df. I’m still in the process of finding an efficient way to juggle my freelance practice, writing, and being a director in a retail design firm. If I decide to continue with this new career venture, I’ll be doing more of these marathon trips. I’ll take them as  opportunities to share with you the places I visit, even if it’s just a construction site in Vietnam, haha!

ikat pillows from bungalow 300

Saw these charming ikat pillows in an email from Bungalow 300.

Last year, Bungalow 300 had the chevron collection, using the popular zigzag pattern for pillows, placemats, and coasters. If I’m not mistaken, the pattern is screen printed on cotton canvas. I bought a pair of their pillows early last year when I styled the bedroom of a client.

Their new ikat pillows are already available in Bungalow 300′s store in Alabang. But if you do not want to go all the way to the south, you can buy them from Dimensione and Zalora online store by May. For contact info, vist Bungalow 300′s Facebook page here.

21st century musicians x mid-century artists

cool!
via Pacific Standard Time

style shopping: kish

Kish, home furnishings store by designer and tastemaker, Ito Kish, probably has the most playful yet very sophisticated mix of furniture and accessories here in Manila. If you’re looking for a statement piece for your home, whether it’s something traditional or something modern, you’re sure to find something you’ll like here.

The store’s merchandise are sourced both locally and abroad. The local pieces that they carry are mostly from Cebu. In fact, Kish is the exclusive distributor of the VS furniture line from Cebuano designer, Vito Selma.

With an extensive background in visual merchandising, Ito is very particular about maintaining a well-put together and well-accessorized store. I appreciate his special attention to detail, filling every corner of the store with something beautiful and interesting. Also, a lot of people who are familiar with Kish, myself included, look forward to the store’s eye-catching (and sometimes, thought-provoking) window displays.

At the recently concluded Manila FAME 2012 show (March 14-17), Ito went into a new phase in his career and took on the challenge as a furniture designer. He debuted his very first furniture collection Gregoria (named after his mother), which explored the ubiquitous baluster or turned wooden spindle. Though this is his first attempt at designing furniture, it is not surprising that he immediately captured the attention of the judges for Katha Awards, and earned himself two awards: one for Best Booth Design, and another award for Best Product Design for his two-seater chair Gregoria. This is an impressive start for him, to say the least.

If you missed the Manila FAME show but would like to see Ito’s collection, the Gregoria chair and the rest of the baluster-inspired furniture pieces will be in Kish starting tomorrow, March 19, Monday.

Kish is located along N. Garcia St., Makati City.

sneak peek: the mind museum

In 2009, Lilli shared with us the launch of The Mind Museum, a project initiated by the  Bonifacio Art Foundation Inc. (BAFI). The objective was to put up the country’s first world-class science museum. Our very own Lilli, who was then a student in UP College of Fine Arts (for her second degree), was chosen as one of the designers for the exhibit displays under the Earth Gallery.

Last week, our friend Arch. Lesley Espiritu, project manager of Datem Inc., invited us for a preview of The Mind Museum before it formally opens its doors to the public this Friday, March 16, 2012. We came as one of the guests of Datem, which, aside from being the project’s general contractor, is also one of the major donors of the museum.

Designed by Arch. Ed Calma, the aluminum-clad architecture of The Mind Museum reflects his signature minimalist style. The gray color scheme of the exterior continues to the interiors of the museum and is combined with contrasting white walls and built-in interior features, providing a modern and sophisticated platform to display the exhibit galleries.

Aside from the five featured exhibit galleries, The Mind Museum also has a laboratory, lecture rooms, and an auditorium to accommodate other related group activities.

We love the futuristic design of the laboratory and lecture rooms with their slanted walls and windows, diagonal fixtures, and vibrant splashes of yellow and orange against the gray and white interiors. The same approach was also used for the design of the comfort rooms that have split-level counters, with the lower part for the kids and the higher one for the adults.

While we love the achromatic palette and the clean organic lines of the interiors, we thought that it might look a bit too serious for the kids who, by nature, respond better to bright colors. I also wish that, later on, the museum could add more play-/activity-based exhibits. Although the displays were visually appealing, many of them are still text-heavy that requires a lot of reading. Lilli and I had so much fun in Singapore’s Science Center three years ago that I expected The Mind Museum to have that same playful approach to learning science.

Overall, The Mind Museum is a must-see for everyone. It is the first in the Philippines that brings together science, art and design in one venue. The Mind Museum is located at J.Y. Campos Park, 3rd Ave., Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. You can buy your tickets online here.

conscious living: talking brown

After being gone for almost a week (two days for work in Bacolod and four days for vacation in Camiguin), I’m now like a crazy person trying to catch up on work. I don’t even know where to start! It’s that stressful day after a fun vacation…

While I finish my scheduled posts for the week, let me share with you this lecture from our friend and former professor Arch. Nicolo del Castillo on how green design is closely related to culture and climate. This is probably his Cliff’s Notes version of the “Designing with Nature” course under the masters program of UP College of Architecture. Hope this will serve as an eye-opener to all of you. df

this weekend: design sharing

spacelift: project tanglaw

If you ask me, interior design and architecture are both 70% function and 30% aesthetics. Well, that’s just a rough estimate, but you get my point—that designs are based on problems and spatial issues that need to be solved. This means that ideally, the aesthetic part (the choice of color, design theme, decorations) is also meant to address a particular problem. Simply put, aesthetics in design is not the end, but the means.

The students of UP Interior Design (UPID) proved this point through Project Tanglaw. Continuing UPID’s advocacy of helping build a better and stronger Filipino society by improving the interior environments of underserved communities and institutions here in Manila, this year’s graduating students have chosen to take on the challenge of rehabilitating the interior spaces of Ephpheta Foundation for the Blind, an institution that serves the visually-impaired. (Read more about Ephpheta here.)

There are five areas in the institution that were rehabilitated: the reception area and main hallway, the computer room/lecture room, the dining area and kitchen, the massage/treatment area (for the livelihood program of the institution), and the women’s dormitory.

The facilities of the institution were in bad shape, to say the least. The interiors were dark, and the layout of the spaces and furnishings were not helpful in making wayfinding for the visually-impaired more manageable. Most of them need to have a guide at all times in order to find their way around.

THE HALLWAY

THE COMPUTER ROOM

THE DINING ROOM

Aside from cleaning, improving the physical conditions of the structure itself, and maximizing the existing spaces, the students incorporated design features that can empower the visually impaired. It is important to know that not all who are visually impaired are ‘blind’. Some of them can still recognize light and shadow. Therefore, brightening the interiors through additional window openings and light-colored walls are already significant improvements that help orient them in a space.

Color contrasts, such as a dark floor vs. light walls and contrasting colored patterns on the floor, help those who can still ‘see’ assess their surroundings and find their way around on their own. Simplifying the layout of the spaces, with a more linear orientation, assisted the visually impaired in creating a mental map of their surroundings. Guide rails along the corridor and room labels in Braille (made of pushpins!) were also added.

THE MASSAGE/TREATMENT AREA

Aside from color contrasts, texture is another important feature that aids those who are 100% blind. The section of the walls and guide rails that are near door openings were finished in textured paint to signal that one is approaching an opening or a room. In the foot spa area, the part with the row of seats has a pebble washed flooring to delineate the space from the rest of the room.

THE DORMITORY

By empowering the visually-impaired through improvements in their interior spaces, the students hope that their design will be an instrument in helping them gain confidence and trust in themselves, and inspire them to become better and productive individuals in the society.  df

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