Design Folder: Your Online Design and Decorating Resource

promising designers under 30: vito selma + geo table

Art, design, and science are three different fields. Art is more focused on form and concept. Design, on top of form and concept, would have an additional element of functionality. Science, like what was thought to us in elementary, is about the systematic organization and discovery knowledge.

It’s interesting to note that Vito Selma’s Geo Table, after being nominated for the 2008 Mugna awards, winning the 2010 Cebu Next Best Contemporary Design Award, and recently, winning the Industrial Design award for the 2010 DOST National Invention Contest for its string art-inspired design using wood dowel rods, gets recognized for all three categories! The reason behind DOST’s recognition of the Geo Table, apart from maximizing wood as a furniture material, is its creative demonstration of wood’s strength and possible limitations, using those thin and seemingly flimsy dowel rods as a material for a table’s base.

“I used the wooden waste and off-cuts from the other wooden furniture that we are producing. I feel that all of us must have an environmental responsibility and I thought of doing it through my designs.

Mathematical calculations were used in constructing the lines and the different pieces of the table. When viewed from different sides, the Geo Table never acquires the same look, thus it looks different, depending on the angle where it is seen.”

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Way to go Vito! We didn’t know you’re also a (nerd) scientist… haha, just kidding!

At 27, he has been to many places, tried so many things, and achieved so much. It wouldn’t be a surprise if he’s our first pick for our Designers Under 30 list!

What’s that list all about? For January, as Lilli and I say goodbye to our 20s later this month, we’re giving recognition to the young designers who, before reaching 30, have already been so successful in their respective creative fields. It’s our way of saying, “Haaay, kainggit!” Hahaha!

So, for those of you who missed that post on Vito Selma’s profile, you can find it here. -ardel

* photos via vitoselma.com

Next: Ericson Manansala

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profile: vito selma

Age doesn’t matter, especially when you’re actively pursuing a dream. At 26 years old,  Vito Selma has already made a mark for himself. Vito is a young furniture designer from Cebu. The df team first met him October of last year during Manila FAME’s exhibit. His designs got us really curious about him, to say the least.

We were actually looking forward to see his booth during our visit to the CebuNext exhibit. And, as expected, his collection of furniture and accessories are equally impressive. In fact, he bagged two Mugna Awards: Citation for Material Innovation for the Wrinkle Floor Lamp (below top), and Citation for Contemporary Furniture for the Geo Coffee Table (below bottom).

As I have mentioned before, Vito capitalizes on his creative impulse and whimsical ideas to come up with interesting, fun and partially quirky designs. His award-winning Geo Coffee Table and his Un-Deux-Trois Collection (below) were the results of a three-dimensional play of string art (my favorite project in elementary math!). For his Wrinkle Floor Lamp (above top), Vito wanted to introduce the idea of a “collaborative design” with his clients. The lamp is purchased/delivered with the flat layers of fine wire mesh sheets. It’s then up to the client to crumple it up whichever way he/she wants.

[Image via mocoloco]

Vito has a rich design background from which he has developed his design identity. His family’s firm (Stonesets) is one of the noted furniture companies in Cebu speciallizing in classical/period style furniture, so the industry is nothing new to him. In spite of this, he’s still very eager to learn and to develop his talent through formal and informal education.

“I took Interior Architecture major in furniture design in the Academy of Arts University in San Francisco. Although I had a year and a half left to my degree, I decided to stop. I felt like the course was geared towards architecture and not furniture as they initially promoted. I came back home and decided to work for the company to gain hands on experience instead. From then until now (2007-2010) I worked as the design director in the company and focused on contemporary furniture as the company was a classical manufacturing firm. In the past four years as well, I have had three internships at different times in Johannesburg, South Africa with George de Haast (interior designer to Nelson Mandela, other prominent South African figures and Middle East royalties). It is in this internship where I learned most about aesthetics and the beauty of all things natural,” Vito shares.

”A few weeks ago, I got confirmation from my dream school, Scuola Politecnica Di Design in Milano. I am admitted to the Master Course in Industrial Design. Technically, I get to skip college and head to the masters! It is the same school that I was admitted to learn and intern under the Campana Brothers, but the Italian embassy declined my application,” he continues.

At a young age, Vito has made several achievements in his career. His furniture have made it to the homes of prominent personalities such as Nelson Mandela (most of Mandela’s furniture pieces are from his company), Penny Stein (publicist of Michael Jackson, Celine Dion, etc.), and royalties (read: prince and princesses) from the Middle East and Southeast Asia. He and his works have also graced several glossies locally and internationally like in India (Better Interiors, Living Etc Magazine, Enhance Magazine), South Africa (Habitat Magazine), Brazil (Docol Magazine), and China (Furniture & Interior Design). On top of that, Vito was nominated for Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Philippines in 2009. Whew!

But all work and no play makes [Vito] a dull boy. And a dull boy he’s not! What keeps him busy apart from designing beautiful furniture? Here’s a rundown:

1) Photography. “I recently had a solo exhibit/fundraiser last March 3 where all proceeds of the photo exhibit went to the orphanage of children who are orphaned from parents with aids in South Africa, Johannesburg.”

2) “Extreme” sports. While in South Africa, Vito tried the “Big 3″ all in one afternoon: Skydiving, Quad biking and Sandboarding with Desert Explorers.

3) Traveling. He wouldn’t call himself a wanderlust if not for his love for traveling!

As for future goals, Vito says, “… just KEEP ON KEEPING ON. Finish my masters and see what comes next.”

To know more about Vito Selma, his designs, and his daily musings, visit his website here and his blogs here and here. His designs are available in Manila at Kish in LRI Plaza. [Thank you so much Vito!]

*Photos courtesy of Vito Selma

i saw design: cebunext

During the Manila FAME show, Cebu’s CebuNext (formerly CebuX) exhibit had a special setting composed of around eight exhibitors, if I remember correctly. Special thanks to CFIF’s Mischelle Ogdoc for being very accommodating, introducing the  team to their designers and exhibitors.

CebuNext was impressive! Their collection of furniture and décor are nothing but world-class. No wonder many of their members are suppliers for many top-of-the-line furniture brands abroad. Their designs are fresh and innovative, combining sleek modern forms with the rich texture of natural indigenous materials, maintaining that Filipino signature in their designs.

Among the exhibitors, here are our favorites:

Accessoria with its appealing mix of indigenous materials.

Nature seemed to be the inspiration for the organic designs of the lamps from Okiberry.

Colorful outdoor furniture, that also come in a smaller scale for kids, are carried by Lauralee.

Sleek and swanky pieces from young designer, Vito Selma, fuse together strong geometric figures with bold colors and natural materials.

His pieces are now available in Manila through Kish in LRI Plaza.

For those of you who want to see more of Cebu’s finest designs, CebuNext will have their tradeshow in Cebu early next year, March 5-8, 2010.

Hopefully, the designfolder team will get the chance to attend that event (and maybe a side trip to Malapascua or Bantayan Island! The Secret!).