Opat Hermano & the joys of art & home

For the peripatetic Josephine "Opat" Hermano, settling down in a new home is a moving experience. Fact is, every 10 years, she moves to a new house.

"This house is the longest – 12 years – we’ve stayed in," she says, flashing a sunshiny smile that’s enough to brighten up a cloudy Saturday afternoon.

And this time around, there’s none of the usual clutter that Opat used to be so at home with. "Yes, I’m slowly getting rid of the clutter in my home – and in my life," a resolute Opat declares. "The rationale behind it is detachment, along with ordering my priorities."

Opat has hoarded a houseful of things since she started collecting in the 1980s. She’s gone through different design phases in her life: Her house has gone from Mexican to Filipiniana to Vigan to Orientalia.

"One day, I decided I had too much, my house was so full, it couldn’t take anything anymore," she confesses. "Since September last year, I’ve been holding a garage sale to dispose of my things."

Among the first to go were the bulky sofas and, sigh, the antiques. Then out went the Persian carpets, the coromandel screen (which Opat sold for a paltry P12,000), the opium bed. There are a thousand and one other stuff rolled or wrapped and stashed away somewhere in the storeroom of the Hermano home and waiting for a new home. Like Opat’s to-die-for blue and white collection.

"If my mom knew I was selling all this, she would kill me," Opat shudders at the thought. "When I clean a room, labas, sell."

A 1974 Philippine School of Interior Design (PSID) graduate and publisher of the defunct Design & Architecture magazine, Opat explains her design philosophy: "Simplicity is always the most sensible approach. Unlike the ‘More is more’ style prevalent in the ’80s, my design dictum has evolved into ‘Less is more ... with a twist!’"

A minimalist and Zen enthusiast, this award-winning interior designer delights in creating contemporary spaces that juxtapose contrasting elements.

She hastens to add, "But when the kids (referring to her PSID students) ask me, ‘Ma’am, what’s your design philosophy?’ I tell them, ‘You have to see where a person lives to see his design philosophy.’"

Turning "minimalist with a twist" entailed a maximum of effort on Opat’s part. She relates with a chuckle, "When I bought this house, I told my daughter Mara I’d go minimalist. But before I knew it, the house was filled up, puno na naman. Wala rin! So last year, I said let’s really get rid of everything. And all my friends were saying, ‘Wow! Sayang! Sayang!’  Life is totally simpler now. Whatever I have I don’t think my children (son Jiggs who’s an acoustics engineer and daughter Mara who’s into art history) are interested. I tell them, ‘I’m selling this.’ When they ask why, I tell them, ‘You don’t like it naman eh.’"

As Opat gives STAR a Cook’s tour of her house, she tells us how her earthly journey has been so far. "I don’t want to sound like I’m a very spiritual person, but it took a long time, maybe seven or eight years, to arrive at this stage in my life. Actually, I took tai chi before and everything. But I think my life changed when I was lucky enough to go to the Holy Land with Fr. Thomas Greene, SJ. His books are wonderful, they’re so down-to-earth. Fr. Greene calls it ‘keeping time with the Lord,’ it’s not purely meditation; it’s a way of having a quiet time with the Lord."

Which is exactly what Opat never fails to find time for every waking day of her life. "The first thing I do when I get up in the morning is to open the bible," she reveals. "You must have noticed that I don’t have a TV set in my bedroom."

Adds a more relaxed Opat, "I have no regular schedule anymore. I just go to my real estate office to sign checks, take care of the rentals, unlike before when I was on top of the business. Now, I’m looking for an apostolate; I’m a volunteer for Don Bosco."

Indeed, Opat has opened a whole new chapter in her life. "The magazine (Design & Architecture, which lasted 13 years, 10 of them under Opat) is gone," she looks back with a sigh. "It’s very sad. I lost my personal money, I don’t know how much. My husband (lawyer Francis Hermano) was very supportive, he gave me all the freedom to develop it even if I was spending so much. Marketing was bad, maybe I didn’t have the right marketing people. Maybe it was mismanaged. But if not for the magazine, I wouldn’t have been reunited with the editor Sylvia Montilla who was my roommate in San Francisco 30 years ago. For me, she’s sort of a John the Baptist, I saw in her such peace. I prayed for discernment. For us, the magazine was not just work, it was a passion. It failed but it did something for me. It has contributed to my being more humble, more patient, and more accepting of people, of other people’s mistakes, of God’s will. I guess there comes a time in your life when you have to let go and let God."

Will Design & Architecture see the light of print again?

"There have been a lot of interested investors," comes Opat’s terse reply.

For this designing woman, home is where the art is. An Impy Pilapil sculpture makes waves at the foyer. All over the house hang or stand works of contemporary Filipino artists like Bencab, Lao Lianben, Gabby Barredo, Gus Albor, Pablo Mahinay, Ivan Acuña, Dan Raralio, Bobby Nuestro. Proof positive of Opat’s belief in Filipino creativity and artistry.

Says the true-blue art lover, "A lot of these artists are my friends. I bought their works way back in the ’70s. I don’t think I can afford them now."

"This Bencab dates back to the ’70s," Opat points to a collage of 63 different sketches of people that the artist, then married to Londoner Carolyn Kennedy, would see when he took the subway.

"This is a ’50s Manansala," Opat shows off a vintage landscape painting.

"This is a 1970 AAP award-winning canvas by Bobby Nuestro," she points to a huge work in the hallway. "Edsel Moscoso bought it from Bobby and sold it to me at its original price of P10,000."

"This is a Lao Lianben work that looks like a 4 or an H for Hermano," Opat shows us a Lao, one of many Laos she has collected over the years. "I really love Lao, he’s such a nice person. He’s coming out in my next book At Home with Filipino Art and Artists, which is three years in the making."

This coffeetable book, published by Anvil Publishing, Inc., National Book Store and Sta. Barbara Publishing Corp., Inc., is not just about art and homes, it’s about art in the home. Authors Mara Hermano and Opat Labrador Hermano take readers into the private world of artists and art patrons like Annabel Alejandrino, Napoleon Abueva, Augusto Albor, Gabby Barredo, Ben Cabrera, Danny Dalena, Diether Korbanka, Lao Lianben, Alfredo Liongoren, Arturo Luz, Anita Magsaysay Ho, Jerry Elizalde Navarro, Ramon Orlina, Alfonso Ossorio, Impy Pilapil, Alfredo Roces, Marivic Rufino, Claude Tayag, Ofelia Gelvezon Tequi, Phyllis Zaballero as well as collectors like Silvana Diaz, Gilda Cordero Fernando, Jaime Laya, Rajo Laurel, Jose Maria Trenaas, Marivic Vasquez, Marilies and Peter von Brevern. The book goes on sale at the Philippine Book Fair from Aug. 31 to Sept. 8 at SM Megamall. (For advance orders, call Amy of Santa Barbara Publishing Corp. at 531-2785 or Lhorie of Anvil Publishing, Inc. at 671-1899, 671-9235.)

"When I saw this house, I liked it right away," says the beaming lady of the house. "I love its layout, the architect of the house was Chito Alcordo who’s a Harvard graduate. I saw the house for sale in 1988 and it was not yet finished. I saw its options – you could do a lot of things here. It could be anywhere in the world, like maybe Japan. It was all-wood. I had it painted white to give it a softer look."

Opat, a New Yorker at heart, also incorporated into her home a slice of the Big Apple look. Reflecting New York’s skyline before the 9/11 tragedy, Opat says her study of a black and white penthouse bathroom in Manhattan "symbolizes the need for a sense of calm as an important design element, a still and translucent picture of Filipino contemporary design amid Western luxury."

The "ara-al" flooring of the bathroom contrasts with the sleek Jacuzzi bathtub and Philippe Starck fixtures and accessories. Black and gold mosaic tiles silhouette New York’s scintillating and surreal horizon at night. Taking center stage in this room is the bathtub, highlighted by a skylight that resembles a four-poster bed with antique wooden columns. The whimsical touch of muslin draped carelessly, an antique wooden countertop and a stream of water flowing over a row of pebbles provide warmth and enhance the harmony of contrasting elements.

Opat sure loves contrasting elements – black and white (today, she’s wearing a white Comme des Garcons top over black Prada pants), old and new, like an antique Spanish mirror vis-a-vis a modern alabaster table. Or ethnic vs. western, like Ifugao food containers alongside Domani furniture.

"This Italian alabaster table with light was on sale at 50 percent off at Rustan’s in 1990," says Opat. "It’s a conversation piece, and I got it for only P6,000. My friends were telling me I should have bought two, but I’m not really business-minded."

Time was when Opat was a fixture in flea markets and antique shops. "I’ve stopped accumulating things," she stresses. "I can’t build another house; besides, things have become so expensive and times are really bad."

Opat shares more of her home philosophy: "You shouldn’t buy things because they’re expensive, they’re a status symbol. It’s so sad when a client of mine doesn’t even have an old piece that is of sentimental value to him. He puts an ashtray here and a painting there. There’s no character. To me, your house should reflect your character."

She elaborates, "My house is me."

We notice her very unique earrings – a mismatched pair of fresh water pearls consisting of a round earring and a cross earring. "It’s very me," she points out.

One of Opat’s favorite things in her house is the work desk she inherited from her father, former Justice Alejo Labrador, who married Concepcion Magsaysay, the sister of former President Ramon Magsaysay. Opat fondly recalls, "I was an accountant and was CEO of various real estate companies, but my dad believed that if you’re a girl, it’s hard to get employed. So he put up a business for me."

Opat leads us to her favorite part of the house. "This is our breakfast room where we eat not just breakfast," she tells us as we peer through the glass wall for a refreshing view of the garden with hanging plants and palm fronds as old as the house and a swimming pool. "It used to have a wooden ceiling but I found it so flat so I put cloth instead."

Opat now also has more time to rearrange furniture and things around the house – and is she having the time of her life!

"No, I did not have my house feng-shuied," she says. "I don’t believe in feng shui. No Chinese would buy this house because the lot stands lower than the street level, which is bad luck. I just pray and trust the Lord."

After all, for Opat, a home is "a place of peace, camaraderie, love, family, things you love, art you love, memories; a place to grow, to mellow."

Today, Opat no longer collects things. She’d rather collect a houseful of memories.