Manila Fame 2016 Boutique Edition Event

I always appreciate discovering and seeing wonderfully designed products and I am glad that I was able attend the Manila Fame 2016 "Boutique Edition" event held at World Trade Center in Manila recently. The event was held from 21 to 24 April 2016 and featured items for home, holiday and fashion.

Products are made by Filipino designers and craftsmen and the use of local materials was ubiquitous at the event. Event attendees include buyers, exporters, interior design students, designers, architects, artists, media and people who basically like seeing new designs and products.

The booth display by Ito Kish was simple yet it stands out since he made use of local, sustainable materials for his furniture items. The inspiration for the collection comes from pieces of organic forms.

A chair designed by Kish

This chair is called "Binhi" which means seed in
Filipino. Kish was inspired from the grain of life
which fosters growth in more ways than one.

This console table is called "La Union" since Kish's inspiration
comes from La Union, a surfing capital in the country, that has
beholding waves and a laid back spirit.

The products displayed at Vito Selma's booth were also interesting and were made mostly of wood and glass materials. The items can be customized as the buyer may choose the kind of color that he or she wants for the wooden material. Prices of the chairs and tables are around PHP70,000 each and can be ordered from their Cebu shop.

The wooden materials from this coffee table can be pulled and
adjusted to create a different shape

A wooden  book shelf with a twist designed by
Vito Selma

These hanging lamps can be adjusted to make a room
brighter by simply pulling the pyramid shaped structures

Another booth that captured my attention was Triboa Bay's set-up.

There are also new modern products from Schema, a group which includes well-known designer Budji Layug.

Hacienda Crafts also displayed some interesting products made from local materials.

The event also included designs by junior designers under the Red Box designs program. The junior designers under the program were guided by Budji Layug.

"Raccolta" by Joseph Rastullo is a useful artwork . The name was based
on the Italian word which means harvest. The designer's inspiration was
the organic farms in Banaue rice terraces.

The eco-friendly paper lamps in the exhibit was also cool.

Sinag Papel, eco friendly paper lamps in various shapes

For the Fashion exhibit, there are artistic, colorful and unique clutches by Cillo.

These unique clutches by  Cillo are painted by artist
Ivan Acuna.

Colorful and  flag inspired clutches by Cillo

Clothing by local designers were also featured at the exhibit.

Clothing by Joel Escober

Successful and well-known fashion designer Josie Natori, was also at the event. She was interviewed by the media. Her advise for aspiring designers is that they should remember that "Fashion is a business". She said that creativity is not enough since one has to also think about the customer and how to market one's products and work hard to make one's business work.

Josie Natori

The event also included booths featuring locally made products that are sold locally or exported.

Colorful "banig"*(handwoven mat) products made from
palm or sea grass leaves

Woven materials that can be made into bags

Bamboo bicycle

A booth under "Junk Not" featured interesting materials made from upcycled plastic bags by Willie Garcia, an Interior Designer and Green Advocate. The sales proceeds provides livelihood to a community  of underprivileged families since the parents help make the products.

Table napkin holders

Chairs made from upcycled plastic bags and repurposed wood

Steel chair made with upcycled plastic bags

  

Belen made by local craftsmen 

Overall the event featured some interesting items and simply shows that a lot of Filipinos are creative in making functional pieces and useful products that can appeal to both local and foreign markets.

Good + Simple Cooking Tips from the Hemsley Sisters

I love reading cook books. One of the recent books that I have read is a book my brother gave me called Hemsley + Hemsley's Good + Simple. 

The book is written by Jasmine and Melissa Hemsley, who are regular contributors to Vogue.co.uk website and have been giving cooking tips to people on healthy food. Their first book, The Art of Eating Well, was a best seller. They also consult and cook for celebrities and high profile events around the world. 

The Hemsley sisters are based in  the United Kingdom and they have a Filipina mother who has greatly influenced the girls on their cooking.  In their new book, one of the recipes included is their Mum's version of Beef Sinigang.  They make use of rib-eye steak  for the meat and veggies which are available in the UK.  Below is a video that was shared by the Hemsely sisters on youtube website showing them cooking their mum's version of beef sinigang.

What I like about the book is that they provide their principles for eating well and the recipes are quite easy to follow. Plus, their recipes include meats and seafood dishes so one does not feel deprived when one opts to cook and follow their recipes.

The book features 140 recipes that are delicious, nutritious and sustainable. Recipes include breakfast, soups and stews, sides and snacks, sandwiches, salads, fish and meat, dressings, desserts and drinks. There is a also a page on shopping list and a one week reboot plan where one can prepare and enjoy food that will nourish the body, retune one's taste buds and beat cravings.

Sesame Chicken with cucumber salad by Hemsley and Hemsley

source: www. hemsleyandhemsley.com

True to the book's title,"Good + Simple",  surely gives readers good and simple cooking tips on preparing good tasting and real food that are healthy and helps promote good digestion too. Cheers!

Day and Night in Osaka

During my recent visit to Osaka with my friend, we were able to go to the Umeda Sky Building, one of the tallest buildings in Osaka. It is just ten minutes walking distance from the Osaka train station.

The 173-meter spectacular high rise Umeda Sky building was completed in 1993 and was designed by Hiroshi Hara, the Japanese architect who designed the modern Kyoto Train station. 

The Umeda Sky Buildiing, a landmark building in Osaka, was
 designed by Hiroshi Hara.

The escalator surrounded by glass, gives a good view
of the city as one goes up to the observatory of Umeda Sky.

Osaka City view from the  top floor of Umeda Sky building

Osaka City view from the  top floor of Umeda Sky building

Osaka City view from the  top floor of Umeda Sky building

On the 39^th floor of the Umeda Sky Building, one can get a 360-degree view of Osaka city and even see far away Awaji Island. The donut shaped and unobstructed observatory is referred to as the “Floating Garden Observatory” but note that there is no actual garden set-up on the said top floor of the building. It is funny that when my friend asked the Japanese security guard on the observatory where the floating garden is he just smiled and said that “floating garden in the observatory is imagination”… ha ha ha.

Before leaving the building, one can get a glimpse of the greenery outside the ground floor of the Umeda Sky Building though since it has an an urban garden with walking trails and water features.

An interesting place we discovered at Umeda Sky building’s basement floor is the Takimi-Koji retro restaurant mall, which has a Taisho Roman atmosphere that was inspired from the 1930s through the 1960s. The gourmet area is a replica of the Japanese streets during that time with interiors and fashion images that is reminiscent of Japan during the Showa period.

The Daihatsu Midget is post war, three-wheel vehicle that was
 used for the delivery of food and small parcels  before.

Nipper, the fox terrier, hears the voice of his deceased
owner on a gramophone. This is the classic
image used as the trademark of JVC.

Narrow streets that leads one to the restaurants

The interiors gives an old Japanese village feel

A hand-powered water pump is featured. It was
 a standard fixture in every home during the late 1930s

Vintage Japanese posters can be seen on the walls 

One of the small restaurants  in Takimi Koji

The Grand Front Mall in Osaka which is walking distance from Umeda Sky Building and Osaka Train station is also a nice place to visit. The mall has interesting shops such as the Mercedes Benz showroom which has a cozy cafe called Downstairs and a big Muji store that has a cafe and bakery.

Grand Front Mall

source: www.japan-guide.com

After our Umeda Sky and Grand Front mall visit, we took the train and went to Shinsaibashi shopping arcade.

Shinsaibashi Suji, one of Osaka's oldest and busiest shopping destinations is a covered shopping arcade which runs about 600 meters in length. It features brand name shops, chain stores, independent boutiques and a variety of restaurants.

Shinsaibashi shopping arcade

source: www.japan-guide.com

After Shinsaibashi we took the train and went to the Namba area.

The Namba river at night

Namba is the downtown area of Osaka. It is where the famous Glico running man and the Kani Doraku crab signages are found.

The Glico Running man signage in Namba

Kani Doraku crab signage 

Osaka's Namba and Dontobori are busy areas filled with a lot of tourists and locals going to the various food outlets and shops. It made us realize that Osaka's downtown area is certainly busy especially at night.