How Cebu became centre for world-beating design
Twenty years ago, Filipino furniture maker Kenneth Cobonpue began marrying contemporary form with craft techniques, and inspired a dynamic group of fellow designers and manufacturers
When Filipino designer Kenneth Cobonpue presented his first collection in Europe in 1999, his peers were nonplussed. “People were saying, ‘Who is this guy? He’s from where?’ He was like an alien,” recalls Frederic Bougeard, the commercial and development director for Maison & Objet, an interior design fair with shows in Paris.
Inspired by Kenneth Cobonpue, young designer creates distinctive furniture line
It didn’t take long for them to come around to Cobonpue’s work, and these days the 48-year-old Cebu native is the Philippines’ best-known furniture designer, renowned for the way he weaves contemporary form with traditional craft techniques and natural fibres. He isn’t alone. A small but dynamic group of designers and manufacturers in Cebu is tapping into the island province’s heritage of weaving, woodworking and inlaying to create unique furniture and home accessories.
Ito Kish is putting Filipino design on the global map
Cobonpue studied design in New York in the late 1980s before moving to Europe for apprenticeships and further studies. But it wasn’t until he moved back to Cebu in 1996 to take over his family’s furniture factory that he found his true calling. “I wanted to show people that the Philippines can offer something new to design,” he says.
In 1999 Cobonpue founded Movement 8 with several other designers who wanted to underline how contemporary design could use materials such as palm, abaca and rattan, which are widely available in the Philippines. What made the movement possible was the way craft and design intersects in the Philippines.
Hotels shun generic luxury in bid to woo Airbnb travellers seeking more authentic experience
In Cebu, many designers run their own factories and workshops, taking advantage of local craftsmanship that has been passed down through the generations.
“People here are more artistic, more open-minded [than workers elsewhere in the world],” says Cobonpue. His workers design and build their own chairs, a practice that isn’t unique to his factory. “They love to do something new. Here, craftsmen always try to put their own touch on what they make.”
Another veteran of Movement 8 is Italian-born Carlo Cordaro, who arrived in Cebu in the early 1990s to rescue a failing veneering factory. He ended up winning a lucrative contract to do finishing work on furniture for a hotel in Verona, Italy, which led to him becoming a designer himself.
His brand, Atelier A, makes pieces based around materials including coconut palm, which has a texture that resembles the lines of an etching.