Movement 8 by Cynthia Rosenfeld

At the cutting edge of global trends, Philippines designers ply their trade with indigenous materials such as rattan, abaca, bamboo, and coconut to produce innovative artworks for living that can be seen in chic homes around the world. A standout among them, Filipino furniture maker Ann Pamintuan recasts heavy metal as weightless ribbons by applying the weaving techniques learned from nippa hut builders on her native Mindanao Island.

She and likeminded colleagues Milo Naval, Tes Pasola, Carlo Condaro, Tony Gonzales, Luisa Robinson, Renato Vidal, Clayton Tugonon, and Kenneth Cobonpue joined co-founder Antonio “Budji” Layug who established Movement 8 with government trade officials in 1999 to promote Philippines traditional craftsmanship across the archipelago and beyond. Banding together, this consortium has achieved considerable success, winning overseas competitions including the prestigious International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York City.

For Pamintuan, making metal malleable extract its sensual beauty and has put the Davao-based furniture designer on the map. Her nest friendly Cocoon Chairs were on display last year at Tokyo’s trend-setting Roppongi Hills and the larger than life, loosely woven Lasso vases grace the ultra-chic designer boutiques at Hong Kong’s Lane Crawford department store.

Another member of the Movement, Kenneth Cobonpue is a darling of the design press, appearing in glossy publications like Wallpaper* and Elle Décor alongside his signature pieces. Trained in New York, Italy and Germany, Cobonque credits his design vocabulary to the Cebu artisans back home and takes every opportunity to re-cast the image of “Made in the Philippines” in the international marketplace. The sculptural mesh furnishings in unusual natural fibers like lampakanai sea grass speak even louder than words. His hand-woven Croissant sofa of countless coconut leaf cores has made waves in the International Herald Tribune and Surface while Newsweek called his enveloping Voyage bed of palm leaf spines “sleek and curvy.”

Blazing the trail for all these artists has been the venerable Budji Layug, who studied design in the United States then returned to the Philippines and found his inspiration on the beach. Watching two men build a traditional bamboo outrigger canoe, the well-traveled designer realized his contribution and that of his country could come from the boat’s same sleek, elegant lines applied to what he calls ‘post-colonial furniture.’ Before long, the Giant Bamboo furniture line made Budji the first Filippino furniture maker carried at NYC’s legendary Bloomingdale’s and later the first to open showrooms abroad. With the same visionary thinking that brought bamboo to Bloomingdales, Budji garnered the talents of his Filippino design peers into Movement 8. Together they are weaving fibers of the Philippines around the world.