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Cebu’s
treasure trove of wonders has inspired many an artist.
Its gleaming waters—home to the lushest sea grasses, the
most ornate of shells, and the most stunning marine
creatures—and its emerald hills and mountains,
resplendent with dazzling greenery, create a glorious
spectacle that nature itself finds hard to
replicate.
Of
course, people can at least try.
Furniture designer Kenneth Cobonpue, the current toast
of the Asian and European furniture design circuit,
attempted to bring these images to life in his
works—with superb results. Using natural fibers, mainly
rattan, Cobonpue has thoughtfully crafted luxurious,
curvy furniture with novel hand-made production
techniques.
This
design philosophy catapulted him to the big league. The
37-year-old designer first made his mark at the
Milan furniture Fair 2001, where he showcased his works with
that of other Philippine designers in a joint show
called Movement 8. Newsweek took notice of the
“remarkable stuff” made by young “Southeast Asian
designers rethinking steel-and-leather minimalism with
breezy, tropical charm.”
Cobonpue
has since gone up several notches in the furniture
design arena, with Wallpaper magazine recently
nominating him as one of the icons of contemporary
design, alongside leading lights Philippe Starck and
Antonio Citterio. His designs have appeared in the 2002,
2004 and 2005 editions of the prestigious International
Design Yearbook, curated by Ross Lovegrove, Tom Dixon
and Marcel Wanders, respectively.
He is
also a seven-time winner of the Japan Good Design Award,
and his list of awards continues to grow. His list of
clients includes Hollywood superstar Brad Pitt (who
bought the Croissant chair, Pigalle chair, Voyage bed
and doughnut bed) and Warner Brothers, which
commissioned him to do the casino set for the movie
Ocean’s Thirteen.
Cobonpue’s quick ascent is by no means a mere stroke of
luck, but the result of years of hard work and
discipline. As a child, he witnessed how his mother,
Betty Cobonpue, started a furniture business right in
their own backyard using chiefly rattan. Hoping to
follow in his mother’s footsteps, he went to study
Industrial Design at
New York’s
Pratt Institute, before apprenticing for a leather and
wood workshop in Florence, Italy. He then studied
furniture marketing and production at the Export
Akademie Baden-Wurttemberg in Germany under a private
and state scholarship program.
Cobonpue
could have chosen to stay on in the United States but
the recession made him decide to pack his things for
home in 1996.
“It was
not so good in the
US
then,” he recalls.
So he
thought it would be good to help out in managing the
family business, called Interior Crafts of the Islands.
Inspired
by boats
Back in
Cebu, Cobonpue perfected designs that would win him
international acclaim. His trademark curvilinear designs
and rounded look exuded a character that many
appreciated for their freshness and uniqueness. His
first design was called the Yin and Yang, whose
see-through look was meant to showcase the elements of
nature.
“I’ve
always envisioned myself making things, like building
boats,” he relates.
Using
fastening techniques culled from traditional boat
building, Cobonpue also experimented with an array of
natural and synthetic materials from his native Cebu—carbon
materials, bamboo, sea grass, leather, stone, paper and
naturally, rattan. Half of the materials used in his
designs are sourced from within the Philippines; the
rest are imported.
The
labor component, though, is 100-percent Filipino. His
carbon chair, for instance, uses high-tech material
fashioned by local craftsmen.
“The
application is limitless for a thing that is well made,”
he says, adding “there is nothing superfluous or
decorative about my design.”
Such
cutting-edge designs do not always come to Cobonpue in a
flash. Though most of his designs are inspired by nature
or more mundane items (the much-awarded Lolah chair was
inspired by a can of Coca-Cola), he admits that designs
come by design.
A
design, he says, is something that one has to work on.
“Design
is a discipline. It’s important that you spend time for
it. You really just have to make it happen. Sometimes it
comes, sometimes it doesn’t,” he says.
Sometimes, a design can take as long as a year or two to
complete, he reveals. “If it doesn’t work, we come back
to it and find a solution.”
Branding
makes a difference
What
differentiates Cobonpue’s creations from other
Philippine-made furniture, however, is the very brand it
carries.
“Philippine furniture are usually sold under a different
name. There is no real value other than the
manufacturing component which Vietnam and China can
easily copy,” he notes.
To
ensure the integrity of his designs, he took the route
that no other Filipino designer has done before: “We
branded it.”
In
branding his furniture, Cobonpue sees himself creating
the “model for the future of the industry.” The idea,
he says, is to “sell Filipino culture, to make it truly
global.”
Today,
Interior Crafts of the Islands employs three craftsmen
and 50 weavers, all trained by Cobonpue, and who help
him stock showrooms across the globe, from Shanghai to
Madrid to New York.
Cobonpue
is one of the few that publishes its own catalogue.
He
admits a certain pride to have someone like Brad Pitt
buying his works. “It’s flattering that he can choose
anything in the world and he still chooses these
things,” he admits.
Not
starstruck
Cobonpue,
though, sees beyond the glamour of his celebrity
buyers.
“Fame
from Brad Pitt buying [my works] is one thing, but
respect from my contemporaries is more fulfilling,” he
muses.
He is
proud to be able to exhibit his works alongside Marcel
Wanders and Ross Lovegrove, and professes an admiration
for the works of Philippe Starck and Issey Miyake.
“I’d
like to do to furniture what he did for fashion,” he
says of the Japanese fashion trailblazer.
A
pragmatist, Cobonpue recognizes the difficulty of
selling his own brand in a world dominated by major
brands.
“It’s
difficult selling a Philippine brand but we do it
anyway,” he says. That, of course, will entail building
the name. “You build the brand—brand is not about
furniture, but about the lifestyle.”
Certainly, there is no stopping Kenneth Cobonpue from
turning over new stones and in advancing Asian design.
“I
always want to reinvent myself, surprise myself, carry
the look further,” he says.
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