Bamboo sofa

There is something about a bamboo sofa that brings the Maker back to earlier times, back to nostalgia, back to an old wooden house in P. Del Rosario Extension, a.k.a. Private Deretso, a.k.a. Private Riverside. The Maker grew to manhood here.

The house is gone now and so, too, the bamboo sofa where many things good and bad happened and not just to the Maker but also to a host of other friends who should not mind being mentioned here. They should by now be old enough to own up to everything. Given the expected decline of testosterone levels, this information should not matter  much anymore. At first, there was Martin, Fredo, Bomboy, Tarco, Leo. Even Tito Valer sat there. Then there was Jim, Roylu, Adjong, Dintoy, Budoy, Anadel, Rommel, etc. The secrets of female friends will be respected here. But  let them remember just as well a bamboo sofa lying next to the bamboo bed close to the picture window where you could see the ocean of rusting rooftops running from there through South Expressway all the way to Carbon, Pasil, Ermita, then blending softly into the sea and the islands beyond. Let them remember how it creaked with every shift of weight. If anything at all was done on that bamboo bed and sofa, let the memory of its creaking remind them how fearless they once were. Let this be the measure of the trueness of their love, once many years ago.

A bamboo sofa was one of design-student Jasper Colico’s two thesis projects. She named her sofa “Utaria” to denote the best of its utilitarian qualities. It was convertible from sofa to bed with just a bit of lifting and pulling out. And since the other part of the name “Utaria” must refer to “euphoria.” then the Maker could not help but smile and remember what can happily be done with a bamboo sofa that transforms into a bed with little or no trouble at all. What a person might do with a good friend on a contraption like that is best left to the imagination of the viewer who has not yet tried doing anything of that sort. But the Maker could only nod his head in approval. He gave Jasper a forceful pat on the back for the project. His approval was shared by the rest of the thesis panel: Kenneth Cobonpue, David Harris, Peter Corazo and Estela Ocampo-Fernandez.

There was a short discussion after Ms Colico’s presentation. Harris and Cobonpue noted how the project still required additional work in the sense of workmanship and finish. The sofa itself had been built at the bamboo shops across the street from the University of the Philippines Cebu campus in Lahug. The cost was surprisingly low but since the working methods applied fall under the category of native crafts, the sofa  also had a “native aesthetic appeal.” That, for the Maker, was perfect. On the other hand, the more seasoned designers suggested the “Ikea” model for the design. Why not raise the level of craftsmanship to a high level so that the design would broaden is potential to reach other markets besides the local?  Good point.

Indeed, this brought the Maker to thinking about the possibility of driving Jasper and her classmates to a shop in Samboan were there is a nongovernment-organization project trying to do exactly that with bamboo furniture. Better put that down as a mental note. For now, the Maker could only relish what his own faculty of taste was doing in his mind as he watched “Utaria,” its form, its structure and the possibilities of use they pointed to.

And it made him think about design and why it is important despite the decline of the world economy and its impact on local exporting industries. The economic decline is only part of the inevitable boom and bust cycles of all economies. Yet the idea of taking sustainable material like bamboo and transforming this with the application of innovative ingenuity will always be something we will ever need. And this need will grow as we aspire to develop and progress as a competitive society in a globalized market. It is the very thing we need to develop and progress from here on. And yet it is something few realize for now. This, judging by the smallness of the amount of investment government puts into it. And then again this, judging by the type of politics now applied into the UP Cebu design program with current events. But that is another longer story that must have to wait for now.

Better for us to remember that this was always how humans produced wealth for themselves. To transform material to useful things that are also aesthetic is half the heart of the design discipline. Making these in such an efficient manner as to make them inexpensive and therefore available for the most people is the other half. The development of this new mind-set here in Cebu is no easy thing. Cobonpue, Harris, Corazo and  Fernandez work under less than ideal conditions. But still, they go by their bottom lines as everyone must. They are hard-put finding the time to teach design students all that they know about design. It is often a thankless, bad-paying job. But students like Jasper Colico who put up projects such as “Utaria” always makes them feel a sense of pride for all the work they have and will have to put in from hereon.