In Conversation with Stanley Ruiz
At the October edition of Manila FAME, which marks the 70th anniversary of the bi-annual design fair, our editor-in-chief spoke with designer Stanley Ruiz about his participation in the Design Commune exhibition
Designer Stanley Ruiz of Estudio Ruiz Design Co.
The Design Commune presentation at the October 2019 edition of Manila FAME
Design Anthology: When did you begin working on all this with CITEM’s executive director Pauline Suaco-Juan?
Stanley Ruiz: I worked with the Design Commune team last April, but for this event we started about three months ago. I was paired with 15 companies from all over the Philippines. I worked with basket makers and weavers in the south, in Mindanao, and then furniture and lighting companies from Cebu. Some were from Batangas, and others from Manila even.
Where are the stone suppliers from?
That's Oricon, they're from Tarlac, near Pampanga. It's about a three-hour drive north of Manila.
The accessories series that Ruiz designed for Oricon won the KATHA Award for best product in the Product Design category
Interesting. So how did it work? There were a few other designers also involved, did you all have the same number of manufacturers to work with?
No, I think I had the most. But we approached it differently. For example, André Chang was working mostly with fashion, and even if he did some homeware, I think he approached it in a more fashion-forward way. And then there was Nix Alañon, who also worked with home products, or at least the companies working with him were more furniture oriented. Technically I worked in home and lighting, but I also designed a denim chair for Cebu Handcraft.
A vignette by Ruiz dominated by shades of indigo at the Design Commune space
Ruiz sits on the chair he designed for Cebu Handcraft
Had you ever worked with any of the companies you were paired with?
I’d worked with some of them before, but mostly it was the first time. Oricon makes a variety of stone goods, for example, and you probably saw on Cebu Handcraft’s booth that they make a lot of driftwood pieces, their sculptures are amazing. But then they decided to venture into accent furniture, so I thought of making a chair for them.
We all really liked this yesterday, during the KATHA Award judging. I like these abaca shades, too.
The manufacturers are based in Cebu, they're called Arte Cebuana. They make lighting, similar in style but small-scale, so I thought of making larger pieces, but squashing them just a bit to reduce the volume and to add something extra. I mean, otherwise I wouldn’t know what else to make. Their designs were already nice to begin with, so this was really a challenge for me. Sometimes it's a challenge to work with companies who don't have a proper set up or whose products are less developed, but sometimes it’s the good ones that are challenging because what else can I do? So, it then becomes about small tweaks and injecting something new. Maybe even introducing them to a new process, like in the case of the basket maker, for example. I’d collaborated with them before. They make hampers and baskets, but they always start with a frame on the top and bottom, so it looks like a rigid, cylindrical object. So, when I designed for them, I told them to just weave it from the bottom up, without having to make a frame and sub-contract it to someone else. And they did, and now they have these nice, soft baskets with wooden handles. For me, that was just a very small tweak in the process. But I think innovation-wise it’s kind of interesting.
The shade that Ruiz designed for Arte Cebuana hangs above a cabinet for South Sea
Another piece of cabinetry designed for South Sea, featuring open latticework
With any of the makers, were you able to work with a new material or process?
I didn't really do any material manipulation, but with the stone, for example, I gave the material a twist. I wasn't even thinking of anything functional, but more how to elevate these common materials. The question was ‘How do I make them look more precious?’. We wear jewellery made from semi-precious or precious stones, but how do you make a common river stone or volcanic stone precious? I figured that by treating them as small sculptures, perhaps it would elevate them or give them a different image. And then for the chair, I specified the finish, because usually they finish pieces like everyone else, dark wood or rustic, but I told them to strip the wood to make it very bare and clean.
They almost have a Japanese feel to them.
Very seldom do you see this kind of finishing around here. The tendency is to stain wood with varnish and make it kind of glossy.
How did they feel about that, you suggesting doing something a little bit differently?
I think they were happy. The first time I met the owner, she was so energetic and enthusiastic about the project, she was very open to it. Even though I was a bit hesitant at first — there’s this thing, you know, if you approach a manufacturer and present your proposal and it looks so simple on paper, there's a tendency to say, ‘What's that?’. They can be sceptical at first, I've encountered it a lot before. Especially when I was starting out. But I said, ‘Let's just try, let's make one and see if we’re both happy with it, and if we are, we can continue.’ She then sent me a few photos and I thought they looked good; the stain was nice. I said we should continue, and she was happy about that. And then she made a bunch of them!
I actually really love how the stone pieces look together as a family, and the little tray they're sitting on is just so beautiful. I also wanted to ask you about this wall hanging, is it a floor covering?
It is. I wanted to highlight the very simple abstract pattern. I actually started using the circle and arch together last April, for a lighting collection. In fact, it's part of the exhibition that was at the Conrad Hotel. So, I took those concentric circles and the arches and then abstracted them.
I really like it. And it sort of feels even more dramatic because it's just two colours.
It’s actually the same on both sides and made of abaca. It's the first time I worked with this company, the owner’s energy is very different and he's very seasoned in his craft, as well as being experienced in the export business. He explained to me their process and I asked if they can do this or do that, and he brought a few samples. I went back to my studio and this is what I came up with. There are many options, but other people are doing them already and you would’ve seen it before. I wanted to have a pattern, something graphic, that you can sort of relate to, but you can’t really pinpoint what it is.
It's very simple, but very effective.
And it's more universal. It's not tied to a specific culture, it’s not very Filipino, especially because it's for the export market.
Yes, I think it would have international appeal.
This textile runner is from other company, Creative Definitions. It's their design, I just selected it because I gave them a design, but they couldn't execute it with their loom. It’s not their fault, that's just the way things are and it's kind of a difficult process. But since we had very little time left before the show, I just went to their store and selected a number of pieces that I thought would work for an installation, one of which was this one. I already knew that this vignette would have some indigo pieces.
What is the material of this light shade?
That's nylon, like string or rope; I think it's knitted. These shades are from Dierde, also from Cebu. They make bags and fashion accessories. I saw some bags in their showroom and I thought we could perhaps make lamp shades using the same technique, just applied to a different product. I think the material is great because it won't wear and isn’t susceptible to insects. It can even be used outdoors, under cover of course. And the wooden element at the top is actually a bag handle.
Do you have a favourite piece out of all of them, or is it too difficult to decide?
I think it’s the chair. I reserved it and told them not to sell it because I want to buy it. And I really like the stone accessories. I hope they’ll be good for them commercially. Some people are already asking about where they can buy them, and the chair too.
And the cabinets are from South Sea, who do a lot of wood but also a lot of cane and Solihiya weaving. I was wondering what the next Solihiya might be, and I thought since they’re good with wood they could probably interpret the technique using wood, like an open latticework basically.
I don't know if I'm describing my approach very well. You can see it’s really straight forward, even more so than earlier in my career. Maybe the craft and the nature of the material make the pieces look rich, but the process behind it is very simple. I want to express it in very simple terms, to let the richness of the material speak for itself.
As told to / Suzy Annetta
Images / Dexter De Guia
