Ito Kish is putting Filipino design on the global map
A Filipino businessman-turned-designer is gaining worldwide attention for homeware that combines local handicrafts with the use of natural materials
Of all the things that might tempt an 11-year-old to part with his pocket money, plaid wrapping paper seems rather unlikely. Yet a young Ito Kish had eyes for only this.
He was living with his mother and sister in a tiny provincial home outside Manila, and when it rained the roof leaked. Bothered by the stains this left on the walls, the boy saved up cash from selling sweets at school, and while his mother was at work one day, papered over them with the gift wrap he'd purchased.
"It looked beautiful," Kish recalls. Although something within him understood then that design was his destiny, it would be decades before this was realised.
Taking his mother's counsel that business was a more productive course, Kish studied marketing, working locally and in Indonesia, then returned home in 1998, armed with a container-load of furniture.
Then in his 30s, Kish, the businessman, opened an eponymous furniture store. It was successful and, as 2012 approached, Kish, the marketer, thought that joining the furniture fair Manila FAME might be good for business. But this required original designs. So he put pencil to paper, and came up with the Gregoria Lounge - his very first piece, inspired by the intricately designed balustrades of his old family home - and named it after his mother (Gregoria Kish).
