NATURAL FIBRES indigenous to the Philippines, such as rattan, abaca and coconut, have long been used to fabricate simple home furnishings in the archipelago. But those pieces have been given a makeover by a new generation of Filipino design professionals.
In 1999, Antonio 'Budji' Layug led a group of Filipino designers to create Movement 8, with the goal of promoting their traditional craftsmanship at home and internationally.
The movement is also aimed at countering the stereotype that one avid collector of indigenous furniture, Manila television personality Coco Quisumbing, calls 'the Filipino inferiority complex'. Developed over four centuries of colonial rule, she says 'the definition of excellence was and still is anything made in the west, particularly France or the US. Filipinos long ago set out to duplicate western products. These days, finally, those skilful craftsmen are bringing our original, local designs to life.'
Movement 8 has achieved considerable success, winning overseas competitions including the prestigious International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York City. Its members have also been featured in the International Design Yearbook.
One of the group, Ann Pamintuan, specialises in recasting wrought iron into wire ribbons by applying the weaving techniques she learned from the builders of thatched-roof houses on her native Mindanao.
The industry attention the group has gained put Pamintuan's Davao-based furniture company Gilded Expressions on the global style map. Beneath the Mori Art Museum at Tokyo's Roppongi Hills, Pamintuan's surprisingly comfy Cocoon chairs look right at home among better-known Scandinavian and Japanese designs at luxury lifestyle emporium Estnation, and her large, loosely woven Lasso vases grace the sales floor at Lane Crawford in Hong Kong.
Another Movement 8 member, Kenneth Cobonpue has become a darling of the design press, appearing in glossy publications such as Wallpaper* and Elle Decor alongside signature pieces, including his boxy, open frame Yin & Yang chair wrapped in split rattan, and the hand-woven Croissant sofa of coconut leaf cores.