A copy of the first draft of Senate Bill 2930 - Design Council of the Philippines Act of 2011 was made available to the public here. The bill in itself looks promising  - with the main meat of the Bill being the establishment of the Design Council of the Philippines, which will in turn establish and implement a National Design Policy, in order to "guide the design and creative industries on the road to the Philippines being the Design Hub of Asia". This is the Philippines aiming high right here. 

Its very interesting to note some of the following goals that the National Design Policy will aim to achieve: the establishment of a network of Designers for knowledge exchange and content creation, the use of design thinking for problem solving (cue Tim Brown's TED talk here), the establishment opportunities to support Design, and the biggest goal of them all, to establish a strong National Identity for the Philippines. 

The challenge here though is convincing the lawmakers that the Bill will benefit not only a handful of Designers.  The author of the bill will need to establish how a well-developed Design Industry will positively and significantly improve the Economy as a whole. It should be significant enough to convince lawmakers to allocate 30 Million Pesos in taxpayer money as an initial appropriation for the council. Similar to the criticism of the establishment of Cultural Center of the Philippines way back, it would be tough to convince people that its a wise decision to spend money on the establishment of this council rather than the more urgent needs of the country, such as food, healthcare and education. Should the bill be signed into law, it would be a very notable achievement in itself. 

Interesting to note how today's Private Sector is actively helping the country, in particular those involved with the Creative Industries. One of the more notable initiatives being the pooling of Ideas to promote Philippine Tourism as a reaction to the Pilipinas Kay Ganda campaign fiasco. Good news is that the Department of Tourism is actively supporting designers' more effective campaigns by creatives like this one. The Creative Industries' push has finally paid off, or so it seems. 

Yes, the Philippines has a Creative Industry, probably not formalized as it is now with the huge influx of Business Process Outsourcing and the Information Technology work in the Philippines. The industry though has a long way of to go to be recognized, as it is more associated with these industries rather than an entity of its own. It has been there, silently growing and gaining recognition both locally and internationally. Filipino furniture, jewelry, gowns, bags and shoes, selling like hotcakes to Hollywood celebrities. Both Visual Artists and Graphic Designers making names in their respective fields. And nobody can fathom how big the Philippines Creative Industry have become, if you'll include Video Game Designers, 2D and 3D Animators, Outsourced Advertising Collateral Designers, Comicbook Illustrators, Photographers, and Audio-Visual Designers.  

And now, the Creative Industry is breaking its silence and is now making its presence known. Talks have been made by a handful of Manila's creatives with a particular lawmaker on a bill that will create the Design Council of the Philippines, to be filed this August. This is truly a sign that times are changing and the Philippines is now keeping up with progressive countries who have recognized the role of design in today's economy. And its about time, the Philippines is literally exploding with creative talent just waiting to be harnessed for its own benefit. 

Getting ready for something big and losing our breath in the process. Doctors recommend blowing balloons to strengthen lungs. In our case, we strengthened our emotions!

And here's Abby installing the customized lampshades we have at the studio. It's good to have tall girls in the studio.

HOUNDSTOOTH! What a name. 

Look through your clutter carefully!

Someone managed to bring a fantastic inspiration source for today. Retro Vinyl Record Artworks in its full-page glory! 
Guess where he got it from?

Apparently Emman's parents are into Music AND Oil Painting, no wonder why they have such wonderful books lying around at their house. Imagine what wonders you can find in your family's garage? 
Who knows, maybe your mom or dad might be art lovers back in the day.

Pao leafing through the pages 

Some of the panelists of the latest Graphika Manila held last Saturday have uploaded their talks on their respective Facebook and Tumblr pages (well at least the Manila based designers have done so).  27+20 Design Boutique have uploaded theirs with additional points that they weren't able to discuss, and Dan Matutina has some videos of his techniques up on his tumblr page. Really nice links especially for those who weren't able to attend, and something additional for those who were able to do so. 

Come to think of it, this wouldn't have been possible in the past few years, say, in the year 2000 when people were not privy to sharing their stuff on line. Really amazing how social networking and the Internet has already become prevalent and changed a lot of things. Nowadays you basically have speakers uploading videos and just sharing knowledge online, and it just doesn't stop with design. You now have people uploading their stuff ranging from the mundane to the technical, from the satirical to the inspirational.

By far though, the Ultimate Online Repository of knowledge must be TED.com. They're not just your ordinary how-to-talks but ideas discussed by the world's greatest minds. Like this lecture by Ken Robertson on why today's educational methodologies might not make sense anymore, and how it can be changed, or Tim Brown's discussion on the real point of Design, and how designers should think. You'll not just learn from these lectures, it will also compel you to think.

Forget about a computer for every child, every human being above 18+ should have an espresso a day!

The TV that survived a dictatorship, people power, the 80s, 2 or 3 economic crashes, all kinds of market bubbles, deaths in the family, decades of just being another surface to pile things on, years of storage, multiple trips on a pick, more months in storage and a monstrous flood is now alive and well. It now has a place next to the dining table of a young urban family. The electronics being beyond repair, it was gutted and turned into a bar. Instead of transistors and wiring, it now houses liquor and wine glasses.  

We've come a long way since the day we started cracking the old walls open. Like archaeologists digging into a sacred grave, our team of builders pried through layer upon layer of renovations done over the decades, to find the true nature and character of the rooftop-turned-multipurpose lounge. 

We are glad to announce that our project at SGV/Ernst & Young headquarters is very close to completion. No bottles of champagne in our hands yet, but seeing the site tidy up is a great sign. Our building teams and subcontractors have been stepping up the pace and delivering on time. 
Stand by for more developements. 

The TV cabinet which we brought to the workshop a little over 25 months ago is finally getting the facelift it needed. It took several sessions of toying, thinking, measuring and imagining. The TV sat there for a good amount of time, survived a major flood and is finally getting some attention once we decided to get the project over and done with. 


We're so happy we're doing it. 


Stand by for the final product. Painters are applying final touches and then will go into detailing. I cannot wait to bring her home.