Cebu Furnitures

Cebu City, dubbed the Philippines' second-largest city, is located in the Central Visayas group of islands. Tourism brochures boast of sun-drenched beaches lined with coconut trees. However, those who venture outside the resorts find a different place. The sun, sand and tropical fruit are certainly part of what is Cebu, but the general reality is that it is an industrial town. Cebu lives off the trade that goes on inside the squat, uninspired and often unattractive buildings of the downtown business district, and off the cargo hauled on the backs of the large trucks that rumble through its main streets.

A lot about the city is not pretty in the way that one would expect of a place that promotes itself as a font of innovative design. But in the last few years, Cebu has become known within international interior design circles as producing unique world-class furniture. Despite a lack of locally sourced wood — or perhaps because of it — a small but vibrant export sector sells tens of millions of dollars' worth of furniture to buyers on five continents. Cebu's most creative workshops have thrived, producing fine furniture for the world seemingly against the odds.

An executive director of one furniture manufacturer says the local output has made a mark at the annual U.S. furniture exposition at High Point, North Carolina. "There is such a thing as the 'Cebu look,' coined by buyers. There is a certain look to Cebu-made furniture."

That look is more improvised than traditional Asian work: the chunky Indonesian, the colonial-style Indian or even classic Chinese, which showcases exotic timbers from its forests.

A design consultant to a furniture in Cebu manufacturer says: The Cebuano were the first in Asia to introduce different materials into a very unique style of mixed media. The designers are able to create a real and innovative look." It further adds, The designers merged the knowledge of indigenous materials with their penchant for experimenting with new applications.

Several exhibition organizers are proud that Cebu designers are known for incorporating unusual materials into their designs to some success. Creativity has inspired the use of termite mounds, coconut twigs and bark, eggshells, crab shells and animal skins, among other unexpected things.

While easily 80 percent of output remains in more classical Western furniture for the U.S. market, a new generation of designers is gaining recognition and trying to take the industry into a bolder, more contemporary and more original direction. While once the Philippines' cheap labor was the main selling point, Cebu, faced with a China that can manufacture cheaper than anyone else, has made the move up the design value chain, offering a future for its factory owners.

A prominent designer for furniture in Cebu introduced his own contemporary sensibility. Under his own name, he has received accolades, and orders, for meticulously handcrafted modern designs. In London, his Yin and Yang sofa, a metal skeleton wrapped in rattan splits evoking a tropical reinterpretation of the classic, boxy Josef Hoffman chair. Other pieces, like the Cauayan cabinet, feature bamboo twigs encased in oak wood frames.

His work slowly replaced the fussy, 1980s-style bent rattan pieces in the factory, and in 2002 he became the first Filipino designer to be included in the authoritative International Design Yearbook.