QuoLab presents ‘Prelude’ of great things to come

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by Rhick Lars Vladimer Albay
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February 18, 2018
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“WHILE other regions in the country now boast their ‘legends’ in the furniture design scene, we envision that Iloilo could be the venue where startups like us could experiment and develop,” explained architect-entrepreneur Stephen Peñaranda, one of the conveners of QuoLab Iloilo, during the group’s inaugural design fair in October.

Coined from “status quo” and “laboratory” – and a double entendre for collaboration, QuoLab Iloilo opened the year with “Prelude,” an “art and design feast” exhibited at the arrival and pre-departure areas of the Iloilo International Airport.

Joining Peñaranda for “Prelude” are LaHuBre Designs’ Joan Reyes and Pam Laserna; Bacolod-based interior designer Ron Miranda Baba; photographer and visual artist Shiela Molato; architect and furniture / graphic designer Daryl Refuerzo, with the special participation of local hablon champion and social enterprise Gugma Weaves.

In “Prelude,” the group gathers a diverse and eclectic mix of young talent and distinct aesthetics. Reyes and Laserna’s “Taas” chairs offer unorthodox twists on classic Filipino design sensibilities, all the while seamlessly incorporating found objects into their pieces. In their “Clara” chair, LaHuBre Designs pays tribute to Philippine colonial furniture, the quintessential banig paired with bare-faced ornate wooden carvings.

Peñaranda toys with the forms of Scandinavian furniture in his “Ramus” (Latin for branch) collection of lounge chairs and tables – evoking the subtle curves and symmetry of trees; Baba gives homage to functional and pragmatic Shakers designs but injects a tinge of oriental inspiration; as Refuerzo delves into both furniture and visual art with his “Apollo I” and “Araw-araw” series, respectively.

Evoking a state of transient meditation, Refuerzo’s “Araw-araw” canvases resemble long-exposure shots of a meteor shower or a celestial body collapsing under its own weight, meanwhile “Apollo I” taps into the nostalgia of the 1960s space race and the innovation of that same era to craft modern lounge chairs from rattan and platinum slate.

Also a “prelude” of sorts for her upcoming solo show entitled “Placid” – set to open at gallery i this February – Molato breaks new ground with two more somber and contemplative pieces, a departure from her wounded “Emotional Architectures” that juxtaposed sharp geometric faces with flowing drips and dynamic brush strokes.

“QuoLab is an attempt to challenge the status quo of the design industry,” said Peñaranda, as the group hopes to position itself as the premiere design fair in the region.

“Startups can challenge the status quo,” he added. “And when you’re looking for a hub for emerging designers, it has to be Iloilo.”

“Prelude” is on exhibit at the arrival and pre-departure areas of the Iloilo International Airport until Feb. 20./PN
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