The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
By Gia Catimbang / Special to The Market Monitor
If you’re planning to redecorate or refurnish your house’s interiors, prominent entertainment, fashion, lifestyle and media personalities are presenting worthwhile ideas on how to do that with their posh designs of select home spaces in the Urban Filipino Home exhibit, which opened at the Shangri-La Plaza mall in Mandaluyong City on August 15, 2017.
In the exhibit, its 10 participants—singer and It’s Showtime co-host Karylle Yuzon, singer Jed Madela, fashion stars Jappy Gonzales and Rajo Laurel, TV Patrol co-anchor Julius Babao and wife Christine “Tintin” Bersola-Babao, chef and columnist Stephanie Zubiri-Crespi, Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) courtside reporter Apple David, National Bookstore Managing Director Alexandra “Xandra” Ramos-Padilla, and former My Home magazine editor-in-chief and Kohler Philippines interior designer Jie Pambid—showcase their interpretations of rooms that they believe best suit the Filipino lifestyle in Metro Manila.
They did so with items from Shangri-La Plaza’s resident lifestyle stores: Bo Concept, Luxe Room, Sheridan, Rustan’s Department Store, Steltz Lighting, Restoration, Tempur, Design Pod, Sealy, La-Z Boy, Shelter, Ego Italiano, La Sedia, Ariston, GE Monogram, Hacker, True Value, Ashley Furniture, Simmons Gallery, Blims, Slumberland, and Shell Canvas.
Their designs resulted in spaces ranging from singular sophisticated rooms adorned with art to cozy yet stylish living and dining rooms that are perfect for the urban family.
“Here at the Shang, we’re all about helping you live out your dream lifestyle,” Shangri-La Plaza Executive Vice President and General Manager Lala Fojas said in a statement. “After the first home exhibit we held two years ago, we wanted to continue inspiring our guests to create spaces that they feel are truly theirs.”
During the exhibit’s opening, a number of the featured personalities shared with guests and members of the media their ideas on the rooms they designed.
For Yuzon, whose contribution is what Shangri-La Plaza described as a “stylish music room,” her designed space is very similar to her own living room.
“It looked like our home naman. We have a lot of light wood at home,” she said.
Yuzon also revealed her fondness for statement chairs, particularly those from Design Pod, as presented in her space, where a sofa bed made of denim (which she referred to as her dream couch) serves as the centerpiece.
Regarding the look of her future home with husband Yael, Yuzon envisions a design that is “pretty much the same” as what she had styled, albeit with a lot of terrariums, for her spouse has a green thumb.
As for the room for her future children, she wants one that’s “gender-neutral.”
“Growing up, pink was really my favorite (color), but I pretended it was blue. So I guess I’m into being more gender-neutral,” Yuzon said. For Laurel, the space he designed for the exhibit—a “creative sanctuary”—is essentially one where he can shut himself off from the world and be comfortable with the things he likes.
“The desire to always fill your home with pieces that you love is very important,” he said.
His sanctuary is basically a study room redefined, with paintings, plants and a shelf filled with books about fashion design giving a clear idea of the famed designer’s aesthetic.
“One thing’s for sure: If I do have another opportunity to build a home, there (would) always be plants, there (would) always be art and there (would) always be a lot of books,” the designer said.
As for Zubiri-Crespi, who acted as host for the opening and who designed a child’s bedroom for the exhibit, she noted that, usually in such bedrooms, they’re “super bright” and “super colorful.”
But what she found in her boys Sebastian and Maximilian, she said, is that “they are very super-stimulated. Madami na silang nakikita. They’re learning so many things.”
“I want them to have a cozy, calming space, and (also) furniture na they can grow old with. So kahit na five years old or 15 years old (sila), they’ll still like the furniture,” she added.
About her own room, Zubiri-Crspi described it as “calming and blue,” in contrast to her children’s bedroom.
“Siyempre, sa buong araw, stressed. Nagugulo ka (at) ang dami mong pinag-iisipan, so gusto ko ‘yung kwarto ko (na) peaceful, cozy, (with) many prints.”
The Urban Filipino Home Exhibit is on the Grand Atrium of Shangri-La Plaza and runs until August 23. For more information about the exhibit, call 370-2500, local 597, or visit www.facebook.com/shangrilaplazaofficialfanpage.