Sound design roadmap mulled for Cebu

CEBU, Philippines - The Department of Trade and Industry Cebu Provincial Office (DTI-CPO) will be working closely with the Cebu Design Education Foundation (CDEF) to formulate a sound design roadmap for Cebu.

DTI-CPO director Nelia F. Navarro said that immediately after the Cebu International Furniture and Furnishings Exhibition (CebuNEXT) this March, her office and CDEF will brainstorm on the proposed design roadmap developed by the CEDF.

CDEF is a non-stock, non profit organization founded by a core group of design professionals and educators mainly to enhance the design culture in Cebu and to support sustainable development through design education.

It offers free access to the best of design information through its flagship initiative, the Chive Mori Design Library that hosts a collection of more than 700 titles of cutting-edge design books and journals.

A major program of the Foundation is the monthly Design Speak/Share Lecture Series when designers of international caliber give a lecture or a workshop on any of the following design disciplines: architecture, home furniture, fashion and multi-media.

Last Tuesday, CDEF design expert from China, Danny Fang gave a talk on how to “Tickle the Giant.”

According to Navarro there is a need to boost the design advantage of Cebu especially that the global market is improving.

CDEF led by famous designers such Kenneth Cobonpue, Butch Carungay, and academe players like Stella Fernandez aims to develop Cebu into a vibrant and dynamic design destination and to facilitate design quality and continuous improvement through education and professional development.

IT also hopes to develop, promote and sustain the value of Cebu’s design community and its impact to business and society.

One of the main reasons why Cebu’s furniture, fashion accessories, gifts and houseware exports have been able to weather the severe challenges, specifically the recent global recession, is due to its strength in design.

If China, and other countries were able to snatch some of the market share from the Philippines, these countries still have to work very hard, to compete with the brilliant design capabilities of Filipino designers, especially Cebuano designers.

Navarro said Cebu has to strengthen its name as the “design capital” thus, an effective roadmap is expected to boost the capital advantage of Cebu.

Earlier, the MCCI called for collaboration among the private and public schools, the LGUs to craft an enhanced and effective course in designing.

Significant number of MCCI’s member industries is into furniture export making, fashion accessories, and other home furnishing products being sold in the global market.

MCCI led a strong collaboration of design stakeholder to promote dynamic interaction among the LGUs, schools and industry sectors in terms of sharing expertise and resources in order to come up with a more responsive and relevant curriculum to be offered to students in high school and college.

“Considering that human resource is the most potent resource of every organization, the need for better education and training is essential in order to equip the future generation of the required skills to propel the Philippine economy and to enter into the global market with high competencies,” stated the MCCI resolution to strengthen Cebu’s design edge.

Creativity of design has been the Philippine’s sustaining edge in the fierce competition of world furniture trade. In fact, Cebu is tagged as the furniture capital in the Philippines, because of its strength in designing.

However, this advantage is being threatened because of continuous pirating of designers by other countries.