Desire design at Manila Now

MANILA, Philippines - Some 10,000 furniture buyers from Europe, North America, the Middle East and other Asian countries feasted their eyes on an incredible array of forms, textures, and colors in “Manila Now 2010,” the biggest furniture show in the country, which is on view until tomorrow at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City.

Milo Naval’s massive lobby setup featuring vases, planters, and lamps manufactured by Demex, Maze, and Passad is enough to stir the curiosity of guests on what’s in store for them at the 14,000-square-meter exhibition hall.

Furniture manufacturers such as Locsin International, Designs Ligna and Lightworks led the pack with one-of-a-kind pieces that drew applause even from the most discriminating buyers.

Guest of honor President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was smitten by the intricate embroidery and exceptional design of the Frame chair from Maze Manufacturing.

Carlo Tanseco’s eye-catching black Profile chair for Contempomaze remains to be the crowd favorite. Probably the best seat, er, chair in the house, the Profile chair shows a human silhouette. “It can be anyone,” says this designer who likes to tickle our imagination. “I humanized the chair.”

You can’t help but sit up and take notice, and enjoy the works of Tanseco, whose world-class designs have found their way into such diverse markets as the US, Europe, the Middle East, South Africa, South America, and neighboring Asian countries. Seamlessly melding form, familiarity, fun, and function, Tanseco unveils his new collection for Manila Now 2010 — more of his head-turning, mind-boggling designs that never fail to delight the local and global markets.

Other crowd drawers are the Kenzo daybed designed by Jeff de Leon for Locsin International, and Maze Manufacturing Company’s Full Bloom chair, also by Carlo Tanseco. As the name suggests, Full Bloom is a blossoming flower-like furniture piece in galvanized metal that’s guaranteed to brighten up one’s day.

“The number of buyers we get every year only shows the trust they have in the design and quality of furniture that our industry produces. They know they can find pieces here that will do well in their stores or homes,” says Joy Cancio, president of the Chamber of Furniture Industries of the Philippines (CFIP), the show’s organizer.

According to expo chairman Eduardo Zuluaga, Manila Now 2010 is not just a show for foreign buyers but is also geared to the booming local market.

“As we all know, the US — one of our biggest foreign buyers — is badly hit by the economic crunch. So while waiting for President Barack Obama to fix their economy, we’ve decided to move closer to home, closer to the local market. For this show, we are tapping the resort and hotel owners in the country who can give us the bulk orders we need in order to augment the furniture production of our manufacturers,” Zuluaga explains.

That’s also one of the reasons why this year’s Manila Now is held in conjunction with two other shows — the Philippine Institute of Interior Designers’ “New Essentialism” and the “Hotel Show Philippines,” an international exhibit of products, services, and technologies relevant to the hospitality industry.

Both shows are on their first-time run and touted to maximize the buying experience of visitors. “We are now pinning our hopes on the local market. The color of their money is irrelevant. The objective here is to survive,” stresses Zuluaga.

The Show Must Go On

Despite the recession, event organizers are optimistic that this year is going to be a banner year for Manila Now. “We are almost twice the size of what we were last year. Surprisingly, we are growing,” enthuses Zuluaga.

However, Zuluaga admits that not everyone who visits the show will book an order. “They’re coming to the show because they just can’t afford to miss it. They have to find out what’s hot on the market so as not to be left behind. They need to have something new to offer their clients back home,” he explains.

For their part, the country’s furniture exporters are using various means and adopting new methods to keep their products competitive to be able to entice more buyers.

“This includes using materials that can last long in the countries they are shipped to,” Zuluaga notes.

The resorts in the Middle East, for instance, comprise a major market for exporters. And since the Middle East is hot and humid, manufacturers make use of aluminum and plastic for their outdoor furniture, which is apt for their climate.

“Previously, we used a lot of teakwood, but we don’t have enough supply of teak. We can’t match Indonesia, which is the biggest manufacturer of teak furniture in Asia. We are now researching and experimenting on various materials to use for that particular market,” says Zuluaga.

As for indoor furniture, local manufacturers use lighter materials, particularly the laminated kind. “Our exporters can’t use local hardwood for markets like Canada and the US because our hardwood isn’t meant for the climates in those two countries,” he explains.

Over the years, a lot of Filipino exporters had to import hardwood from the US because it has the type of wood that will last long in those countries, “so paliit nang paliit ang profit namin,” laments Zuluaga.

Thank goodness for the subsidy they (local furniture manufacturers) get from the national government. “It may not be enough but it’s definitely a big help to the industry. We will survive, we’ll earn enough money to keep our factories running. We hope that the incoming president swill look kindly upon the furniture industry,” Zuluaga adds.

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“Manila Now 2010” runs until tomorrow, March 7, at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City. For inquiries, call 750-8588 or visit www.manila.ph.