Val Padilla

Val Padilla doesn’t export furniture but most of his designs are sought-after by foreign buyers. Instead of building the products himself, he designs them for several exporters, based both in Manila and Cebu.

Thus, many of his stylish creations were on view at two recent furniture expos -- the Cebu X, which was held at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel, and the Manila Now held at the SMX Convention Center.

 Inexplicably, the two events kicked off on the same day. Padilla chose to be present at the Cebu show, in which seven of his clients had taken part.

As he toured the Waterfront’s grand ballroom, where the exhibit booths were ensconced, he noted how the number of participants had decreased considerably as compared to a year ago.

“Last year, the corridors leading to the ballroom were filled with stalls and booths. That row alone was crowded with booths, which all featured my designs. Now it’s empty. Only the ballroom is filled,” he says.

The decline in the number of exhibitors was widely attributed to the recession, which has badly affected the furniture export industry. “Many of Cebu’s exporters just don’t have the resources to take part in this event now,” he says.

Still, Padilla is fortunate to have been very busy during the expo’s four-day run.  After all, seven of his clients still had the resources to present their respective product line, which was dominated by Padilla’s designs.

Thus as a designer, Padilla was recognized as a sort of adopted son of Cebu. He’s based in Manila but his creations have helped his Cebu-based clients make it in the international market.

The designer approaches each client with a different look or theme.  For instance, for a particular client, he focuses on the geometric look, which he terms as classical geometry.

This style presents a “deconstructed look,” dominated by geometric shapes and “peek-a-boos” all of which offer a very sleek and very modern table or chair.

Padilla is facing the recession head on by using cheaper, recycled materials for many of his designs. Buri, old rattan, scrap wood and leather, nothing is too old to be discarded now, he says. “The trick here is how to make the scrap materials look expensive,” he explains.

“We look for ways to make a chair look sleeker by using new shapes and sleeker lines.”

Padilla obtained his degree in Fine Arts at the University of Sto. Tomas in 1979. Shortly after, he sought to enter the Design Center of the Philippines.

 He was one of the six accepted by the Center from a total of 300 applicants.

Up until the 1990s, he was trained by design experts from the US and Europe and designed various products for the Center’s clients. When it was time to move on, he established a consultancy which creates designs for the country’s furniture exporters.

Padilla also accepts interior design projects, which ought to help in offsetting the losses that might be incurred with the export slump.

With his flair for making scrap look like a million dollars, Padilla should emerge from this recession largely unscathed. After all, he’s received roughly 60 designs awards from all over the world.

“We just need to be more creative now,” he says. “To survive, we have to use materials we’ve never tried before and be more inventive in finding ways in using them to make a chair or table look stylish and priceless.”

Some of the country’s best designers are showcased in this exhibit of the Design Center Philippines. (Photo by PRANZ KAENO BILLONES)

All seems well at the 26th Manila F.A.M.E. International (or Furnishings and Apparel Manufacturer’s Exchange). This, despite the obviously more subdued atmosphere due in part to the more difficult economic climate that is now prevailing in the global market today.

Nonetheless, Manila F.A.M.E. still continues to be a marvelous venue for local manufacturers and designers as can be seen in the number of exhibitors (judged through the number of booths) and the variety of merchandise displayed and sold to buyers.

Likewise, items using recycled or recyclable materials like soda bottles and newspapers also made an appearance at the event, surprising both visitors and foreign buyers alike with their innovative take on resources not readily used in the creation of “new” products.

Despite the somber mood, some good news could nonetheless be gleaned. According to noted designer Val Padilla, some buyers have expressed their observation that Philippine design is on an upswing. Whereas before innovation seems to have passed on to Indonesia and thereafter to Thailand, now the Philippines seems to be at the forefront anew of good design in the region and perhaps, even in Asia as a whole. The exhibitors are also conscious of the fact that most local buyers and consumers, despite their own purse tightening, are now a force to contend with—at least when it comes to buying locally produced items and products.

Taking us on a tour of various exhibitors’ booths—some of whose items he himself designed, one couldn’t help but marvel at the ingenuity of the Filipino designer in terms of execution, finishing and even the use of non-traditional materials in coming up with items that might just take the design world by storm. Indeed, who would have thought of creating a lamp from the shells of rice pearl oysters? How about vases that look and feel like wood and yet are actually made from rattan? Or how about the gleaming table actually finished with the fibrous outer covering of the banana tree? Well, perhaps only the Filipino can. Even the Christmas ornaments section seems to have recovered from the onslaught of cheap, ill-conceived and designed trinkets (made from you-know-where!) that flooded the market in recent years. Simply put, their new designs are innovative, attractive and hopefully harder to copy!
All in all, Manila F.A.M.E. continues to be hotbed of creativity for local and international design—a fact that the world continues to recognize.

Manila F.A.M.E. is the only UFI or Union des Foires Internationales (the union of the world’s trade shows) accredited fair in the Philippines. The 2008 Manila F.A.M.E event generated close to $70 million in sales for its April and October editions and was attended by buyers from all over the world.