WHILE INDUSTRIA Edition Creative Director and Chief Designer Jude Tiotuico has imported furniture from around Europe, Australia, and the United States for two decades, the brand comes home to the Philippines with a collection called Editions which harnesses the power of Filipino designers.
Most of the collection consists of steel components.
“The thing that attracted me to metal is its unpredictability,” said Mr. Tiotuico. “Metal is unlike wood, which you probably can just carve into shape; with metal, instead of shaving it, we bend it, we forge it, we hammer it, and sometimes by hammering it, it goes the other way from what you expected it to be. It gives us that sense of excitement and surprise when we see what we are able to shape it into.”
For Editions, Mr. Tiotuico collaborated with designers and artists Budji Layug, Eric Paras, Lilianna Manahan, and Leeroy New.
Mr. New’s piece is called the Z-Zag coffee table, made of steel holding up a slab of cut glass. Mr. Layug, meanwhile, designed the Molave round table. Though named after the hardwood, it’s made of steel, and is topped with solid wood and glass. Mr. Paras contributed the Jurgensen sofa, inspired by Mid-Century design, which uses thin bars of steel to hold up luxurious looking cushions. Ms. Manahan, meanwhile, designed the Umpire chair, which combines grace and masculinity in fabric and pipe tubes.
The designs from Industria Edition will function a bit like a fashion house, with collections with different artists popping in every quarter or so.
“Every season, every quarter of the year, we’ll be featuring one of the designers,” said Mr. Tiotuico.
“I understand that with design, especially with furniture, no matter how sculptural or how nice the design is, if people can’t connect to it, it won’t work. And the only way people can connect to it is when they feel something or get reminded of something from it,” he said.
The Industria Edition Showroom is located at The Residences Greenbelt, Arnaiz Avenue, Makati, open daily from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. — Joseph L. Garcia

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