Gabby Lichauco (Photo by Jar Concengco)
‘No Boundaries by Newfolk’ runs from April 5 to 12 at Space63, 2nd Floor, Unit 201, Building A, Comuna, 238 Pablo Ocampo St. Ext., Makati City.
Gabby Lichauco was invited to his first Newfolk exhibit in Singapore about a decade ago. He asked some design and manufacturing contacts to join, but he never intended for Newfolk to become a continuous endeavor. On April 5, he opened No Boundaries by Newfolk at Comuna in Makati. Newfolk features young designers and brands Jasser Aguila, Bianca Carague, Meyte Chan, Krete Manila, Lamana, Chini Lichangco, Razel Mari, Selena Placino, E/Lou – Edward Sibunga, Simon Te, and Gia Viray.
The thread that binds these designers together is “innovating craft,” says Lichauco, Newfolk’s curator. “These designers have already been pushing the practice of craft. All of them have had that in mind. Aesthetics-wise, they all bring fresh takes on Filipino design, particularly Filipino product design.
“I’ve been tracking them and their works,” says Lichauco. “So I already had an idea of what I wanted to show. It doesn’t matter to curators if it’s old work or not, as long as it’s somehow related to the theme. The more you expose their works, the more people get to understand where they’re coming from and how they design things,” he explains.
“One of my intentions with their old works was to have a theme that everybody is familiar with. I thought of the kitchen because it’s an area in the house where you end up socializing, unlike a dining room. And there are just so many objects in the kitchen that you can recreate or even invent…Also, as they were young designers, I didn’t want them to spend a lot. I was looking at a bigger scale in terms of volume, number of pieces, and so that came out, and I explained to them, okay, this is the theme. On top of that, you have your old works, which we will also be displaying. Eventually, the idea of creating a café and how I was going to display the pieces came about. I didn’t want to use pedestals. These are design objects. They’re meant to be touched.” Lichauco ended up buying tables from Ikea as part of Newfolk’s display.
Sauce dish by Bianca Carague
Products by Bianca Carague
We talked to some of the designers about what they do and where their inspirations lie. According to Bianca Carague, “Over the last six years, my focus has really been on designing interactive digital environments that help facilitate various forms of therapy or mental well-being. I was mostly world-building through video games in a very 3D digital environment. Then I started to miss physical things again and tangible objects. I was missing a multi-sensory approach to my work because I started in furniture and interiors.” For Newfolk, “I am doing sculptural objects from these digital environments that I had made. It’s a collection of three serving dishes. There’s one oval dish and a shorter, long dish with a sculptural base. There’s one cake dish and one sauce dish. All three dishes are inspired by texture, which I’ve repeatedly used in my work over the last year. So in my virtual worlds, you would find them in rock formations, you would find them as ripples in the sand, and you would find them also in other sculptural objects that were positioned in these digital environments that I’ve made.”
‘The more you expose their works, the more people get to understand where they’re coming from and how they design things,’ says Lichauco
Salt and pepper dispenser by Meyte Chan
Fruit bowl by Meyte Chan
Meyte Chan, who started Senseware, says, “I am a third-generation shell artisan. The mother company that my grandmother had acquired back in the 1980s is called Shell Arts. And we’ve been in the industry since 1929. Eventually, I wanted to have a canvas of my own. And so that is where Senseware started. It’s my canvas on how I want to take capiz and create a new type of sensibility and aesthetics when it comes to that quintessential material.” For Newfolk, Chan made salt and pepper shakers and other objects. Her idea for making the shaker came from perusing pigeons. “I wrote an essay about how society disregarded pigeons as the original messengers and how people now view them as pests, like rats with wings. I just wanted to call attention to that, and the fact that mother of pearl, or basically shell itself, is also a byproduct of the pearl industry.” She also wanted to showcase waste in a different form.
Product by Viktoria Laguyo of Krete Manila
Coasters by Viktoria Laguyo of Krete Manila
Viktoria Laguyo of Krete Manila explains that her company specializes in concrete. In 2016, there was a boom in concrete planters, she explains; she and her partner decided to make other objects, as well. Eventually, Krete was invited to show during Singapore Design Week. For Newfolk, “We’re going to be showing a new series of vessels, which are more of our own designs.” Krete Manila, explains Layugo, makes furniture commissions or bulk orders of candle jars or corporate giveaways. “But we could express more about ourselves as designers for Newfolk. The inspiration was how brutalist buildings were built. It embodies the bold structural elements typically found in brutalist architecture.” They also designed a piece in collaboration with Chini Lichangco, one of the designers in Newfolk.
Chair by Gia Viray
Lamp by Gia Viray
Designer Gia Viray designs furniture for Triboa Bay Living, a family business that has been around for 30 years. In 2008, the focus was shifted from export to retail under Vienna Furniture. For Newfolk, she is using designs made for Triboa Bay Living. “The Hatch Occasional Chair is one of my designs. Both items I’m showing use the same technique: They’re made from thin veneer strips. For the chair, I developed three layers of veneer with a pattern from open weaving. I layered it in such a way that it’s stable. It’s also a circular chair, held up by a metal frame,” says Viray. The second design is the Tulip Hanging Light in small and large sizes. Strips are laid together to form a tulip shape.
Grounding table by Simon Te
Grounding chair by Simon Te
Simon Te is only 27 but feels like he’s lived several lifetimes. As a director and designer, and with other talents, including being an artist, he is in the process of slowing down. Trying to decide whether he is a designer or an artist is a question he ponders. “I’ve always enjoyed working with my hands. To me, that’s very important. And I’ve always, in a way, throughout my life, been balancing identifying myself as either a designer or an artist. There’s this pressure or this quiet, compelling urge to choose between one or the other. But I feel like that idea falls more into the process of how I do things,” he says. “I wanted to explore both sides in furniture pieces for Newfolk. As a designer, how can I craft a feeling? How can I craft a moment? How are these pieces influencing a moment already a part of people’s lives? Basically, sitting down, using a table, having a conversation, sharing a drink, sharing a cup of coffee or tea.
“On the other hand,” Te continues, “the artistic pieces are more of a transmutation of my feelings, of a feeling of this idea of grounding. A lot of my work moves in and around slowness and stillness, which comes from bouts with grief that I’ve had throughout my life. I think that my design practice, crafting practice, and a lot of the artwork I do in various forms is me exploring these different corners of grief and how they manifest in me.” For Newfolk, Te shows four new pieces born from his woodworking practice. He has a seating set called Grounding, which is composed of low chairs and a very low table designed for intimate setups. He also shows two totems: one tabletop totem the size of a dinner plate and another the size of a coffee table.
Newfolk (Photos by Jar Concengco)
Lichauco considers Newfolk an experimental platform. He says there are many art events, such as art fairs and exhibits, but not many platforms for design. “It’s a whole new culture, design culture. During the pandemic, it just went fast forward: Everybody was in the creative field, regardless of whether it was graphic design, industrial design, or architecture. It gave them time to rethink what they wanted to do or where they wanted to focus, especially the younger ones. And these designers in “No Boundaries by Newfolk” ended up focusing on product designing, which we don’t have a lot of.”
‘No Boundaries by Newfolk’ runs from April 5 to 12 at Space63, 2nd Floor, Unit 201, Building A, Comuna, 238 Pablo Ocampo St. Ext., Makati City.
