Manilapearl Corp: A gem of its own

Manilapearl Corp. was founded in 1987 by Engr. Donato Pangilinan Jr. and has since earned a reputation as one of the Philippines’ most creative furniture exporters in terms of design, engineering and OEM capability. Manilapearl, a European designs company, exports in 22 countries including Italy, Switzerland, Japan and Germany. Among its most outstanding offerings, is the "Gabriel" iron-wicker stacking side chair – still a global best seller for over 10 years now, selling to millions of consumers to date.

Manilapearl, together with its sister company Marbleland Mining & Development Corp. (MPC & MMDC), participated at the Philippine International Furniture Show 2003 held for the first time at the Centennial Expo in Clark Export Zone in Pampanga held early last month. Foreign visitors – from 57 countries who viewed products in screaming red, chocolate brown, bright orange and green – were awed. "Times are not that great, and so to sustain or divert customer attentions towards our group of companies, we need to do the obvious: we triple our Product Development and Design budgets. That was our most daring collection of new products since 1988," recalls MPC and MMDC president Joseph N. Pangilinan. Pangilinan was the recipient of the First World Young Business Achiever Awards personally handed to him in 1994 by Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, in London UK.