Manila NOW 2009

 

 

Just a month and a few days and it will be the Philippine International Furniture Show again. We can’t wait to be there.

Room For Rent

“ArtSpace” by Jeni Turingan, Karen Riguerra, Clarisse Reyes

“Artmosphere” by Joyce Caguicla and Brigitte Reano

"ying yang"

chair and side table

"Amaze-ing" furniture

Compact is the new efficient. Nowadays, gadgets come in palmtop sizes, equipment are packed into collapsible forms and even living spaces equate to areas with minimum area standards. Designers, then take on this more challenging task—produce efficient but aesthetically pleasing compact spaces.

Mapua Institute of Technology’s second batch of graduating students played “space-savers” through an exhibition entitled “Room for Rent” held at MC Home Depot from December 14- 27, 2008. In the exhibition, two dorm room units, one for a single multimedia arts major occupant and the other for an interior design major and architecture major roommates, are on display. In conjunction to the dorm room designs, on show also are prototypes of collapsible furniture.

The concepts of the dorm room designs root from the prospective occupants’ college majors. The dorm room for the multimedia arts students, with the concept “Artmosphere” reflects the imaginative nature of the given course. Overlapping curvilinear lines break the boxy form of the room. On the accent wall is a photo board resembling the negatives of photos, granting emphasis to one of the fundamental component of multimedia arts—photography.

The two-person dorm room design, intended for shared occupancy of an architecture and an interior design student, speaks of the bold ideas these two disciplines generate. The design features a loft bed; below is a compact work area with a drafting desk and the closet. Cool, refreshing colors compose the color schemes—a technique for those long weary hours of drafting students in these courses experience. The alternating cool green and white rays on the walls make for a semi-psychedelic feel.

The furniture prototypes featured in the exhibit portray the saying “Big things come in small packages.” The student designers vividly showed that collapsible furniture need not be restricted to those foldable wooden tables. There are chairs with built-in speakers, a center table with storage, a seating piece that may be oriented to different profiles, a chair and a side table that may be connected together, an avant garde shelving piece, a two-seater sofa with linked center and side tables and a side chair that may be tucked under a side table. All of which exude detailed planning and originality the School of Architecture, Interior Design and Built Environment adheres to.

The exhibition was made possible in cooperation with MC Home Depot, Fort Bonifacio and Matimco.

(thanks to Ms. Nina Santamaria for being the guest of honor and Yang Frigillana for the photos)

Tune-in Chair

There is more to a chair than just a piece to sit on. Brijit Reano and Joyce Caguicla , students of Mapua’s Interior Design program prove just that. They give the term “just sitting around” a whole new perspective.

Named “Tune-in Chair”, their piece submitted as a culminating project for their furniture design class is an ottoman, chair and speakers all rolled into one powerhouse furniture. Pull up the blue part of the seat and the chair back locks into place. Retract the chair back again, and you get a comfortable ottoman. Attach your ipod or mp3 players to the speakers, then there is no need to use those earphones.

The “Tune-in Chair”, other furniture prototypes and dorm room design exhibit are on show at “Room for Rent” at the MC Home Depot in Fort Bonifacio until December 27. Check out the works of the interior designers of our future.