LONDON-BASED design agency Diwa.Dezeñyo, run by Filipinos exposed to diverse cultures and broad perspectives on human-centered design, has come home to the Philippines.
As part of their opening salvo, the agency has unveiled three functional wooden stool designs through an exhibit showcasing 16 Filipino artists’ playful influence on the stools, titled Take A Seat, on view at the Space Encounters Gallery in Ortigas.
The featured artists in the group exhibit are Joly Beart!, Valerie Teng, Remster, Carla Gamalinda, Summer De Guia, Jesse Camacho, Pat “Rabby” Aguas, Julia Borja, Jheane Borja, Joshua Barrera, mimaaaaaaaaw, Gemart Ortega, Humbly, Andre Baldovino, Demetrio Dela Cruz, and Sigwada Knicolai Mendoza.
It was in 2024 that Sigwada Knicolai Mendoza, a visual artist, touched base with her godson, F. Marco Sebastian Padayao, one of the co-founders of Diwa.Dezeñyo. Upon learning that he had started his own design agency in the UK, she came up with the idea for the exhibit.
“I invited him to launch here in the Philippines. We could collaborate on furniture art, and we eventually decided on stools since they’re compact and easier for artists to work with,” she told BusinessWorld at a preview of the stools in April.
For Mr. Padayao, who started Diwa.Dezeñyo in London with his business partner Luigi Bauzon, it became important to them to build a “Filipino culture” in their agency.
“We met in the UK, but Luigi is also a Filipino. After working on different projects together, I realized over time that our philosophies were very similar,” he said.
ART IN CONVERSATIONMr. Padayao said that launching Diwa.Dezeñyo in the Philippines is an attempt to “return to one’s roots” through art. “At the end of the day, no matter where we were raised, we’re still Filipino,” he said.
Fifteen artworks came out of his three stool designs, randomly paired with five artists each. These are the Diwa.Casa, with curves influenced by Gaudi’s Casa Batllo in Spain; the La Mariposa, inspired by the distinct shape of a butterfly’s wings; and the Hugis ng Diwa, adopting a contemporary interpretation of a stool and challenging the perception of stability through its thin legs.
“By combining Marco’s stool design and the artwork of the visual artist, people will be able to see something different in this merging of two individuals who are collaborating,” Ms. Mendoza said, of her curation of the exhibit. “Each stool reflects two perspectives.”
In the case of Davao-based sisters Julia and Jheane Borja, theirs is the only one reflecting three perspectives. The notable feature of their take on the curved Diwa.Casa is the illusion of little ants crawling over the wood and in between the images of bodies climbing ladders.
“It’s a comment on us collaborating, since ants are a collaborative species. It brings up the conversation of collectivism versus individualism in art,” they said. “We’re working together on this, so you don’t know who did what. In history, artisans created in guilds, but their works were unnamed. We wanted to harken back to that.”
Another Diwa.Casa stool with an interesting take is Carla Gamalinda’s, who used the wide, curved legs to tell a story.
The outer sides of the chair’s legs show a house, while the inner sides depict a pair of cats facing a person, as if in conversation. “When you ask someone to sit down, the connotation is to sit down and talk. I fully intend people to use this like that, and I wanted the art to reflect that,” Ms. Gamalinda said.
ART IN TELLING A STORYMs. Mendoza explained that her curation of Take A Seat reflects the “intersection of visual art and product design, both forms of storytelling.” For example, many artists who were given the La Mariposa stool to work with used it to portray original characters.
Mariel Cruz, who goes by the name mimaaaaaaaaw, transformed the stool’s butterfly-wing backrest into the ears of her cat character, whose humorous face occupies the seat. The chair’s legs are the cat’s legs, with the claws unpainted to showcase the original color of the wood.
Jesse Camacho also utilized the butterfly wings, but to place symbols of fish above his colorful, fairytale-inspired character Jack, depicted using a broom in the futile act of sweeping away water. The chair’s legs were painted with chains, a contrast to the character’s free-spirited appearance.
For Joshua Barrera, whose art leans more towards intricate pointillism and ornamentation, the stool became a stage for his preferred themes of fantasy and spirituality. Coated with black acrylic paint and drawn on with metallic ink, it shows the wings of an angel.
“I draw mainly from folklore and cultural heritage. I initially started with ethnic patterns, but morphed it into my own style. For this piece, I wanted to express a sense of divinity,” Mr. Barrera said.
The Hugis ng Diwa stools, despite their unique shape, were the ones that posed the greatest challenge for artists due to the limited surface area on the legs.
Patrisha Aguas took it in stride, using the stool to express her own inner frustrations through her character Rabby. She painted the seat with the rabbit figure showing an aggressive face, a contrast to its cute appearance.
“I wanted to show that, like me, just because a rabbit is cute doesn’t mean you should underestimate it,” Ms. Aguas explained. Meanwhile, the thin legs of the stool were painted with little symbols like smiley faces, hearts, and stars, giving the illusion of stickers.
Mr. Padayao told BusinessWorld that he’s optimistic the show will draw potential clients for the design agency. “We want to create that noise, that exposure for us to make a name for ourselves here, as well as give artists the opportunity to explore,” he said.
Diwa.Dezeñyo is currently setting up an office and a manufacturing site in Manila, so that their products could be produced locally, just like the stools.
Take A Seat runs from June 7 to 28 at Space Encounters Gallery, Unit 7D, Padilla Bldg., F. Ortigas, Jr. Road, in the Ortigas Center, Pasig City. — Brontë H. Lacsamana
