Design Folder: Your Online Design and Decorating Resource

nantucket stripes

Saw these Nantucket Stripes wallpaper in Wall Crown while waiting for a client last Friday. I’m not a fan of busy prints on walls so I normally go for stripes if I want introduce  some pattern in a room.

Too bad, I don’t recommend the use of wallpaper except for air conditioned offices and showrooms that have a budget to change their wallpaper after a few years. Our hot humid climate is not the ideal condition to maintain wallpaper. And at P4,500 per roll, they are not cheap! I wonder if my contractor’s painters are patient enough to make these in paint….

objects of design + sale alert!: gus* furniture

Simplicity doesn’t always spell b-o-r-i-n-g. In fact, the concept of modernism, the design philosophy behind the mid-century furniture pieces that are making a comeback, is based on the idea that the simpler, the plainer, the better, and that beautiful designs are straightforward, efficient and honest (with reference to the material).

Simplicity of form and practical function are the main inspiration of Gus* Design Group, a modern furniture company based in Canada.

“We are inspired by simple forms and honest materials. We use them as the springboard for everything we create. From the simple two-by-four and construction I-Beam, to the useful miter box, we delight in the simplicity of everyday objects. The result is furniture, accent pieces, and accessories that mix the elegant with the industrial. Mirroring the great modernist of yesterday, we strive to combine great design and practical purpose.”

Gus* also supports sustainable practices, being a member of the Sustainable Furnishings Council and a certified company of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) which ensures that all wood products come from well-managed forest.

I’m a fan of simple and no-nonsense designs. They’re easy to dress up, to dress down, and to pair with a wide variety of styles, much like the little black dress or crisp white button-down shirt in your wardrobe.

Some of my favorites from Gus* are the Atwood Sectional (top photo) with its clean, tailored look,

the Annex Storage with its basic shape and a nice pairing of warm walnut wood with cool stainless steel legs,

the Upcycle Ottoman which uses repurposed fair trade coffee bags,

and the nostalgic School Chair and School Stool which are modern versions of the elementary school chair using bent-ply seat and back.

Gus* Furniture is now available in Manila! And the great news is that they’re having a SALE starting today, July 14, until August 16 (see details in their ad at the righ side bar)!!! This is a good deal for those of you who might be in the process of renovating your home or furnishing a condo.

Visit them at the G/F The Residences at Greenbelt Retail, Esperanza St., Ayala Center, Makati City. They will also have an exhibit on July 16 – 29, 2011 at Greenbelt 5 Exhibit Area (near Superga). For inquiries see contact details below:

Phone: 621-8171, 566-9293

Email: gus@livingspace.com.ph

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/gusphilippines

objects of design: amy butler fabrics

Bright, happy colors c/o Amy Butler’s fabrics to perk up this gloomy Monday morning.

i saw design: “mid-century” posters from etsy

Happy to stumble upon the etsy store of Czech graphic designer Jan Skácelík! Inspired by Scandinavian mid-century design, these posters feature furniture, accessories, decorative motifs, and colors from that era.

Top poster features a Danish cabinet, Arne Jacobsen lamp, vintage flip clock, mid-century vases, and an Ericofon.

with the Eames La Chaise chair.

with Cathrineholm (mid-century Norwegian ironworks and enamelware) canisters.

with a Rorstrand Tango cup with leaf patter by Marianne Westman.

Who knew these posters could be so informative! These are great for those taking up History of Modern Furniture this semester. For more of his posters, visit Jan Skácelík’s etsy shop here and his blog here.

sneak peek: i-design in silang, cavite

Last Saturday, I accompanied a client to Silang, Cavite to order a couple of furniture pieces from a supplier. While driving along Tagaytay Road, a white store with a white couch displayed in front of it immediately caught our attention. This store, I-Design, is something different from the usual sight of hardwood furniture makers that line the road. My client suggested to check it out on our way back.

Thankfully, my brain was cooperating that afternoon and I immediately recognized and remembered the name of the lady who appeared to be the owner of the store. Irene Enriquez, both the owner and the designer for I-Design, is a designer that I got to interview more than a year ago when CondoLiving featured her Renaissance condo.

Apparently, the store is very new, around three weeks old since it first opened. Like Irene’s condo, the store looks clean, simple, and sophisticated. Most of their pieces, made of wrought iron and woven plastic strips, are outdoor furniture that can also pass as furnishings for the interiors. The store also carries wood pieces plus various accessories that Irene sourced abroad.

To get in touch with them, you can find their contact details in their website here.

*photos courtesy of irene

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objects of design: pillows from estela

I am a throwpillow fan. Like plants, cut flowers and framed pictures, throw pillows, especially the more colorful ones, can instantly perk up any living space (except your kitchen and bathroom, of course).

I was happy to learn that the girls from online shop Estela–Anda, Jo and Joyce–are bringing in pretty pillows together with their collection of dresses and fashion accessories. I especially love the fuchsia pillows in woodblock-printed fabrics (above).

“We noticed that local retail shops in malls were lacking variety in terms of home accessories. Nothing seemed to look special or unique that wasn’t outrageously priced,” says Joyce.

Estela will be launching its first collection accompanied by a private sale of their items this Saturday, April 30, 3pm to 7pm, at Poseidon Park, Acropolis Subd., QC. For those who wish to join the event, you can register here. df

bye-bye typewriter

I probably worked on a mechanical typewriter twice in my life, way back when I was in grade 4. It was our neighbor’s–a verrrrry old 1930s model (like this) which was obviously so frustrating and difficult to use. I’m not sure why I even tried using that! Fortunately, my dad soon bought us an electric typewriter, the one that has spell check and eraser film/tape, which we used to type our school papers until early high school.

Sad news. Found out through orangetwits that Godrej and Boyce, the last company to produce typewriters, has shut down its plant in Mumbai India. (article here)

Although they will no longer be in production, I don’t think typewriters will totally leave our consciousness especially now that there seem to be a growing number of people who are fascinated by their vintage appeal. However, from being an office staple, the typewriter has now transitioned into a decorating accessory and conversational piece for home interiors, stores, and even wedding receptions.

Photo credits (from top to bottom): lucky-seed, fallon akers, tiffidOll, kristianen nicole, flax and spindle, ruffled blog, marry you me, and katie day photo.

illustrations: stop the clock design

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Happy Easter! Hope you all had a restful vacation.

For a cheerful, sunny start to the week, we’re sharing with you these colorful illustrations from  Kathy Slatter and Erin Taylor of Stop the Clock Designs. Both girls have a degree in textile design which explains the “fabric collage” feel of their illustrations. I also particularly love the backstitched appearance of their line drawings!

Visit their site here to view the rest of their cards and past works.

Have a great week! df

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cebunext 2011: the show’s young designers (part 2)

Whatever happened to ‘later’ (to mean after a few hours)? Sorry that part 2 took more than just a few hours. Work happened, hehe.

Moving on…

While most of the designers interpreted the ‘return to the source’ theme as something cultural or stylistic in nature, artist Jinggoy Buensuceso, a Visual Communications graduate from UP Diliman, read it in the context of art and composition. This means returning to the basic elements of art and design, one of which is line.

Most of his designs for CebuNext played around the use of lines by bending and twisting metal rods and wires to create a three-dimensional form. His Doodle chair (above) was inspired by a special child’s doodle line drawings.

Above: Jinggoy’s pieces for Heritage Muebles

Jinggoy also designed the Hip planter chairs (below) for Nature’s Legacy. His literal yet witty take on ‘green furnishings’ won a Mugna Award citation for Eco-friendly product.

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Although Japanese artist Wataru Sakuma is the only non-Filipino designer in the group, the fact that he has been living in the Philippines since 2004, contributing to the Philippine furnishings industry by being a design consultant for CiTEM in 2010 and through his work as a paper artist (he designed the cut-out paper panels resembling tree trunks/branches used for the Kagikan setting) for Masa Ecological Development Inc., a company which manufactures lamps, wall art, and tapestry using handmade paper, already makes him a Filipino at heart. Oh, and he also understands a bit of Tagalog!

A graduate of Fine Arts, major in painting, at the Memphis College of Art in the US, Wataru works more like an artist than a designer. Instead of developing his designs through shop drawings, he prefers to work on the material directly.  He made his Rebaroque chair for Stonesets Int’l, which won a Mugna award for Best Transitional Furniture, by cutting facets on an existing period style chair, making it look like it’s pixelated.

While the prototype was created from a chair made of solid wood components, the chairs for future production are supposed to be made of solid wood scraps, pieced together, and formed into this chair.  The idea of cutting facets was to show the small wood pieces that were used to form the furniture.

Above and top image below via latorrecruz.com

As I’ve mentioned in part 1, we didn’t get to meet London-based designer Daniel Latorre-Cruz personally. Although he was not present in the show that afternoon, we definitely did not miss his pieces. His low wood seats that look more like art installations than furniture pieces made me think. Can I sit on it? How should sit on it??? Jinggoy and Stanley both told me that I can sit on the piece. I wish we have seats like these in public areas like in parks and even train stations!

I always enjoy meeting and talking to young designers like these five. Aside from their fresh and oftentimes playful insights, their idealism probably appeals to me the most.  Because there’s so much to share about these designers, we’ll be featuring them again individually to get to know them better through their works, ideas, and future plans. -ardel

cebunext 2011: the show’s young designers (part 1)

What we especially like about CebuNext is the organizers’ effort to include young designers in their shows. Personally, I find it admirable for the pillars of the Cebu furniture industry like Kenneth Cobonpue and Debbie Palao to support and mentor students and up and coming designers and showcase their works in a big show such as CebuNext. Last year, they started an apprenticeship program wherein interior design students from San Carlos University and industrial design students from UP Visayas were partnered with Cebu’s furniture manufacturers to design and produce a prototype furniture pieces for the show.

For their 2011 show, CebuNext had this Kagikan Project (‘Kagikan’ is Cebuano for origin or roots) featuring five young furniture designers who are based abroad. Interestingly, each designer had his/her own unique interpretation of the theme ‘A Return to the Source’ resulting to a range of designs that are fresh, creative and inspiring.

While waiting for Lilli and Ana (who flew to Cebu right after their visit to Manila Now), I had the chance to chat with the designers of the Kagikan Project namely Stanley Ruiz, Martha Cech, Jinggoy Buensuceso and Wataru Sakuma. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to meet Daniel Latorre Cruz who wasn’t feeling well that afternoon.

It was a treat talking to them and listening to their points of view as designers. Frankly speaking, it’s not all the time that I get good and profound answers to the questions ‘What is your design philosophy?’ and ‘What sets you apart from your colleagues?’

For this post, I’ll just breeze through their works for CebuNext. We’ll share more about them in future posts, probably in our next Designers Under 30 (or maybe 35) series.

I was first introduced to Stanley Ruiz, an Industrial Design graduate from UP Diliman who is based in Brooklyn, New York. His designs are often unexpected yet very nostalgic.  He usually starts with common natural objects, forms, and ideas and develops them into designed pieces that give a new meaning and interpretation to ‘familiar object archetypes’.

above: an armoire inspired by religious structures (you can look at it as a church/basilica or a mosque) as a representative of the Filipino’s religious values and traditions

above: super-sized handicrafts like vases and a birdcage

above: contemporary application of the woven texture and pattern of the Yakan fabric on this white chair

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The youngest of the bunch is Filipino-Austrian industrial designer Martha Cech, who just recently graduated from the University of Applied Arts in Vienna in 2010. Given her background in industrial design, Martha designs all sorts of products. That’s probably the reason why her design approach is more geared towards an exploration of the functional features of traditional furniture pieces. Her ‘Corner Tables’ (that can be used as 4 individual corner tables or as one square table when put together) follows a similar concept as Daniel Latorre Cruz’s  ‘Split Armchair’, both of which demonstrates how developing a piece’s functionality could lead to a new form.

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(Sorry, I have to cut this post into two.  I might be late for a meeting! Second part later when I get back! ) -ardel

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