Urban living with Daphne

MANILA, Philippines - Daphne Oseña-Paez is a passionate storyteller. The producer and host of the weekly show Urban Zone on ABS-CBN, Daphne has found joy not just in expressing her creative and entrepreneurial side, but in sharing her day-to-day adventures in her blog Daphne.ph.

The happy mother of three, caught the public eye with the lifestyle show F, which she produced together with husband, news executive Patrick Paez. The show had a successful seven-year run, until the network decided it was time for a different program, with younger hosts. “They said that we were getting old,” she relates.

Jobless and pregnant with her second baby, Daphne started exploring her options. But instead of looking out for what is available, she focused on what she really wanted to do, what would make her truly happy.

Looking back, the TV host has always been interested in the arts. She studied urban planning at the University of Toronto, but later on developed a passion for design. She started painting in oil and was toying with the idea of going to art school.

Blessed with a keen eye for visual balance and composition she and her husband developed a concept for a design show that features unique architecture and decorating ideas. These set the groundwork for the show Urban Zone. They brought the concept to Bayan Productions and the producer-host started shooting a few days after her second daughter was born.

“Every Filipino dreams of owning a nice house, I think that’s why Urban Zone has been very influential. We feature houses as well as architects, designers, construction companies, developers, everyone involved in building a house.”

Apart from sharing the stories behind the beautiful homes, the show has also helped build the client list of architects and designers. “A lot of the people we featured have received offers to do several projects. People like what they see on TV, and so they look for the people behind it. During our first year, I literally had to beg my friends to show their houses on TV. But now that the show has established itself, people have started coming to us for possible feature,” she said.

Urban Zone, which airs every Friday evening after SOCO, is now on its fifth year. “I can’t ask for anything more. I tape once a week, which gives me a lot of time to be with my kids. I have a great staff; they’ve been with me since F, so I am very comfortable with them.”

The success of Urban Zone not only brought the beautiful host back in the public eye, it also gave way to her entrepreneurial side. Apart from her television work she now has her own linen and furniture line.

Daphne furniture combines contemporary and old world design. “I focus on the design, which is very feminine and classic. Honestly, I don’t do anything from scratch. They show me the piece, and I enhance it, so it reflects my own style. I work on the creative side and I have business partners who take care of the rest,” she said.

The pieces are carved by hand. Details from the Neoclassic and French Baroque period are combined with modern touches like the rustic finish and neutral hues. One of the most loved pieces is her line of pastel-colored chairs. In fact, Lucy Torres-Gomez bought one for Juliana. “A lot of mothers have bought the Daphne chairs for their daughters. It’s like an heirloom that they can pass on to their daughters and future granddaughters.”

The chairs are exclusively sold in Rustan’s Makati and La Brea in LRI Design Center in Reposo, Makati City. Because of its popularity, pirated versions are now being sold. She cautions buyers to look for the brass plate that bears her brand name. “Those without brass plates are fakes,” she said.

She also came up with her own line of bed fashion which is available at all SM stores. “We’ve been in the market for three years and it’s been doing so well. The linens are 100 percent long staple cotton with 300 to 360 thread count, which is perfect for our weather here. I take care of the designs. If you see a movie that is set in New York, the linen designs are similar to mine. When we started out three years ago, we were the only ones doing it, now all other brands are doing it.”

All these can be viewed on Daphne.ph along with other interesting stories. Her blog has received several awards and gets an average of 15,000-35,000 hits a day. It even has local and foreign advertisers. “I bought the domain name five years ago. But all these started as a photo journal on Flicker. I love uploading photos, and then one day my friend noticed that the captions of my photos were getting longer and longer and she suggested that I turn it into a live journal and now it’s a personal blog,” she said.

Just a few days before this interview, she received word from her webmaster that the heavy traffic on her blog is affecting the other clients. “I was told that I need to have my own server,” she related.

The increasing number of visitors has prompted advertisers to buy a space in her blog. “When I found out that National Bookstore wanted to put an ad in my site, I was so happy I treated my friends to dinner,” she quipped.

Foreign brands like Cath Kidston, Rebecca Minkoff, Reiss, Links London, Stylebop.com also have ads in her blog. Daphne attributes the support to her passion for the Duchess of Cambridge. Almost all the foreign brands in her blog are related to the duchess. “I love Kate Middleton, I always write about her. I always mention the brands that Kate is using or wearing. The dress that she wore in her engagement photo is by Reiss, the bag she brought to Canada was by Cath Kidston. ”

The success of every blog lies in the content. For Daphne.ph, it’s the interesting mix of her adventures as a mother, wife, TV host-producer, furniture designer, jewellery maker, UNICEF advocate and the like. “It should always have new content. People will stop reading your blog if it’s static. I’d like to keep my blog very positive, no intrigues. The angst and opinion are for Twitter.”

Unlike other celebs who hire a separate staff to maintain their blogs, the charm of Daphne.ph is the blogger’s personal touch. “I write everything myself and I take my own photos. I studied photography so I can learn the basic techniques.”

The blog somehow incorporates everything about Daphne. Although it is not a retail site, it’s a wonderful opportunity to learn about the person behind all beautiful furniture, linens and jewellery.

Her blog has given her instant invitation to all kinds of parties and events. Unfortunately, she can only attend some of them because Daphne prefers to be with her family. She has consciously limited her television work so she can spend quality time with her husband and daughters Sophia, 8, Lily, 5, and Stella, 2.