IT was a rare date, February 29, 2008, one that comes only once every four years. My friend Ross Camara prodded me to join her for dinner at Ann Tiukinhoy Pamintuan’s place after we finished watching portions of American Idol and the Makati rally on television. Ann’s son, Kim, showed us in with Chuy, Ann’s adorable pet Shih Tzu, backing him up as a member of the welcome party.

This was my second time to interview Ann. The first time around, I was guest correspondent for a Hungarian TV network that had a program featuring her “woven” metal furniture.” Ann is an internationally known designer, the first Asian woman to be featured in the International Design Yearbook (2002). A German designer once remarked that Ann’s trademark cocoon chair design was a “perfect engineering marvel.” One does need not take a hard look at her furniture in order to appreciate this statement. She has perfected rendering organic silhouettes with mathematical engineering precision....A wonder, indeed, for one without a formal design background. (“Gawd! Them chairs are to die for!”)

This time around, though, furniture was not our main concern.  We met to talk about her latest exhibit, on view at the Yuchengco Museum, RCBC Plaza, and about her jewelry design. And thus, over lamb jerky, lechon kawali and tangigue, we munched our way through a discussion of her creations in gold, silver, copper and bronze. Ann’s daughter, Jo-ann, gamely served as our model for the evening.

Ann’s love affair with jewelry design started when she took a workshop on gold-plating.  “I experimented with everything...leaves, twigs, vines and flowers, anything that I could get my hands on. I even plated orchid roots.” And doubtless, her gold-plated orchid-root bangles design is one of the most popular items in her current exhibit. Gold-, silver- and copper-plated rice also figures in her collection. “It started with the Rice exhibit of Rachy Cuna. Afterward, I decided to make necklaces out of it, grain, stalks and all.”

Ann ups King Midas’s ante and turns it around...giving life and expression to otherwise cold and inert metal. In her hands, gold acquires a distinct vibrato accompanying its brillo in twirling discs of rice (Oryza sativa) grains magically transformed into pierced earrings worthy of the Faerie Queen Titania herself. Mango (Mangifera indica) leaves and bougainville (Bougainvillea glabra) petals become playful bracelets that surprisingly evoke the court of Julius Caesar. (I am thinking of giving some laurel leaves from a small bush that I have in my garden and perhaps commission for myself my own “golden laurel”). The petite and unevenly shaped leaves of an ornamental called “The Night of a Thousand Stars” (Cerisa petida) decorate a pendant or the ends of a dangling pair of earrings. Silver, on the other hand, is allowed to shine softly and to reveal full and sensuous shapes in pieces such as brooches fashioned out of sampaguita (Jasminium sambac) blossoms or abaca (Musa textilis) sinamay cloth that has been folded and bound into fan shapes accentuated with freshwater pearls. Ann’s personal favorite is copper. “I do not like too much sparkle. I like the way copper tarnishes and reveals uneven textures like leather. I find the patina of age very comforting. In fact, I also try to achieve this effect in my furniture by distressing them in order to bring out the color of rust.” The Japanese have a label for this kind of aesthetics. Wabi-sabi sees beauty in the imperfect and in things that bear witness to the passing of time. Perhaps, Ann imbibed this sense through her exposure to the art of ikebana, where dried twigs and frayed leaves hold their place side by side with the freshest of the season’s blooms in thoughtful compositions that pay homage to nature.

True enough, Ann’s corpus of works eloquently speaks of her faithful mimesis of and collaboration with nature. What I found sublime were her creations using gingko (Gingko biloba) leaves. Placed next to each other in gold and in silver, the fan-shaped leaves appear to emulate respectively the radiant visage of Surya, the sun, and Chandra, the moon. The gingko leaf has long been used as a motif in traditional arts and crafts of the Orient gracing myriad objects such as kimono material, lacquer ware, screen paintings, handmade paper, family crests and even katana “samurai sword” sheaths. “My first batch of leaves came from Paris near the Arc de Triomphe. The second batch came from a street in Tokyo on the way to Art Dimaano’s place. And the third batch came from the Ming Tombs in Beijing.” (I wonder if it came from the tree behind one of the elephant or griffin sculptures that lined the pathways to the tombs.)   

Ann finds inspiration in all sorts of things. Admiring one of her filigree pieces, I asked what prompted her to create such complex works that exhibited both aspects of symmetry and asymmetry (particularly, internal asymmetry and external symmetry). Her answer was as incredible as her design: “I got that idea from a metal scrub. You know...that one that you scrub pans with in the kitchen.” (Well, so much for my erudite questions!) The techniques that she uses in her works are as varied as her design sources and principles. The more commonly used techniques are soldering, welding, filigree-work (wire-work), tying/binding, folding, chain-work and beadwork. The rarer and more ingenius ones in terms of jewelry-making are weaving (more specifically, basketry, referring to weaving without the use of a loom), twinning and crocheting (yes, she crochets gold-plated roots and vines). What could possibly come next?  Bobbing lace?

Ann’s exhibit dispensed with the usual ribbon-cutting ceremony for her exhibit. Instead, it began literally with the opening of a metal door sculpture of Ann’s design. This verbal and sculptural pun to the artist’s name must have brought smiles to many a guest. But then, her close friends know better, for at the very core of her middle name, Tiukinhoy, is gold.    

* AnnTiu. Alchemy is ongoing until May 10 at the Yuchengco Museum, RCBC Plaza, Ayala corner Sen. Gil J. Puyat avenues, Makati City. For inquiries: (632) 889-1234, info@yuchengcomuseum.org, http://www.yuchengcomuseum.org.

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IT was a rare date, February 29, 2008, one that comes only once every four years. My friend Ross Camara prodded me to join her for dinner at Ann Tiukinhoy Pamintuan’s place after we finished watching portions of American Idol and the Makati rally on television.