A full house at Discovery Primea for Happy Andrada's show
I am not one for fashion shows, but since designer Happy Andrada, recipient of the Ani ng Dangal from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and Artist of the Year at the international Fashion Art Biennale in Seoul, Korea, was staging an eccentric fashion show on June 6, in collaboration with Fundacion Sansó, and because the Spanish artist was a personal friend of mine — may God bless his soul — I made an effort to attend the event sponsored by Discovery Primea.
As a young artist in Paris, Sansó supported himself by creating textile designs for European fashion houses, including the House of Balenciaga. (By the way, his family owned Arte Español, but his desire was to be an artist.)
When my niece, QC Mayor Joy Belmonte, was still single, she was often my cruise mate. Sansó was the one who booked our humble hotel (which luckily had a working air conditioner) when we arrived in Paris, and he invited us to visit his atelier, which was within walking distance. How can I forget that his sketchboard was filled with myriad floral sketches?
I have a Sansó painting from his early years, featuring rock formations, before he shifted to floral artwork later in his career.
As a wedding present to my son Vernon and Happee about 14 years ago, he gifted them a large painting of two giant pink flowers.
When I used to host roundtable dinners in the ‘90s and early 2000s, I always included Juvenal Sansó among my guests. Since he lived alone, he always arrived with a floral painting for me — a reflection of his generous heart.
I miss him, and I’m very happy that Happy Andrada decided to merge Sansó’s art with her fashion designs. It was both eccentric and creative.
I am pleased to know that Andrada has committed a significant portion of the proceeds from the collection to support Fundacion Sansó’s scholarship and arts programs.
