Raw materials. Innovation. Craftsmanship.
As the green campaign fever continues to be a global phenomenon, on its 52nd edition, Manila F.A.M.E. International, Asia’s Boutique Show, turns on the green light as it embraces sustainability by tapping all the unique and indigenous raw materials found in the Philippines.
Bringing top of the line designs and quality home and fashion pieces for over the past two decades, Manila F.A.M.E. International is once again geared up to showcase the country’s design flair and make it more exciting by using eco-friendly and sustainable materials such as rattan, abaca, sinamay, pineapple and even durian fibers. These raw materials are ingeniously transformed into artistic creations as in past editions’ where manufacturers creatively used corrugated boards, empty water bottles, eggshells, egg cartons and cow shanks fashioned into functional and innovative home accent pieces.
Apart from the existing raw materials, recyclable materials like newspapers, glass and scrap metals are also being turned into fine furniture, unique home accents and chic fashion and holiday décor making Manila F.A.M.E. International a hive of all things creative and innovative.
For 27 years now, Manila F.A.M.E. International has included the Merchandise Consultancy Program (MDCP) to help companies and designers in developing new and better products for the discerning world market. As an essential platform for product development and innovation for the show’s exhibitors, the MDCP provides local manufacturers from the home furnishings sector the opportunity to collaborate with top-rated local and, in certain cases, foreign design professionals.
“[The consultancy program] helps widen our design perspective with the use of local, indigenous materials,” testifies Gideon Robles, President of Robles Heritage, Inc., a manufacturer of capiz and stained glass home furnishings. “Through the MDCP, we hope to bring the quality of our designs to a higher level,” says Edwin Rivera, General Manager of Obra Cebuana, an exhibitor who joined the program.
Through Manila F.A.M.E. International’s MDCP, international design luminaries like Philip Cutler (Father of Philippine Furniture), Paolo Navone (Europe’s Millenium Designer), Fred Palatinus, Detlef Klatt, Gerald Tyler, and Naomi Filmer and Filipino designers Budji Layug, Tes Pasola, Al Caronan, Carlo Tanseco, Inno Sotto, PJ Arañador, among others, have contributed their invaluable creative talents with various Philippine companies/exporters.
This year, as this edition does its share to give back to mother nature what she generously supplies, Manila F.A.M.E. International taps Wataru Sakuma to be one of the three MDCP Consultants for the show. A young Japanese designer with a strong background in the fine arts, Sakuma experiments with recycled materials such as carton boxes turned into pulp and transform them into fine sculpture pieces.
Sakuma is currently based in the Philippines and is working as a designer for Masa Ecological Development, Inc., a company manufacturing lamps, wall art, and tapestry using handmade paper. His constant research led him to pineapple and banana fibers, which he says are the best materials for his handmade paper.
Sakuma claims that with the heightened level of awareness on the importance and urgency of preserving Earth, emerging trends now focus more on products that convey sustainability and use more eco-friendly materials and that one of the fast emerging trends now is nature inspired home furniture that presents a change in lifestyle and co-living with nature. He also adds that in terms of color, soft, gentle, light, elegant and healing soft tones are in. “These colors have a destressing effect and are usually associated with nature.”
Manila F.A.M.E. International, a bi-annual trade platform for home and lifestyle products, is the only trade show in the Philippines recognized by the Union des Foires Internationales, a Paris-based international association of trade fair organizers. One of the longest running trade shows in Asia, this bi-annual trade event is led by the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM), an attached agency of the Department of Trade and Industry.
The show opens on 18-21 October 2010 at the World Trade Center Metro Manila and Philippine Trade Training Center in Pasay, City.
Visit Manila F.A.M.E International and discover how local manufacturers embrace the green wave for more exciting and eco-inspired design-driven pieces.
For more information, log on to www.manilafame.com, email manilafame@citem.com.ph or contact Manila F.A.M.E. Secretariat at telephone numbers (632) 833.1258/ (632) 831.1265
