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FOCUS / Philippines
HIGH RISER A US-trained Filipino designer rallies his creative countrymen to drive the local design industry to new heights.
Brian Tenorio is a whirlwind of activity with a million and one projects under his care. Well-known for designing bespoke footwear proudly made in the local city of Marikina, Tenorio has morphed into a quasi-design lobbyist, fighting to put the quality of Philippine design at the top of the country’s political agenda. “There’s no design leadership [here],” laments Tenorio. “We’re a country of a lot of design celebrities and superstars, but no one has a leadership role. When you come here, who do you talk to, who’s guarding the vision, who’s talking about design in the Philippines?” The answer it seems is no one and everyone. The country’s fragmented design landscape has resulted in spurts of growth, but no lasting change. “Who will talk about training, education, lawmaking, intellectual property rights? How will the country innovate?” Tenorio’s solution? A national design council, a body made up of 13 designers from various disciplines, co-chaired by a designer and public official who will oversee the development and implementation of a national design policy, akin to those in Korea, Singapore and the United Kingdom.
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The council would effectively have a wider scope than the likes of the Centre for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM) and Product Development and Design Centre Philippines (PDDCP). In August, Tenorio and team working with Senator Teofisto ‘TG’ Guingona III filed Senate Bill 2930, creating the Design Council of the Philippines. But Tenorio – then fresh from finishing his Design Management Programme training at New York’s Pratt Institute and his work at the United Nations’ Language and Communications Department – didn’t set out to dive deep into the quagmire of politics; he simply wanted to start a conversation. Last April, Tenorio filled a 320-seat cinema with hot bodies – with 40 more waiting to get in – when he gave the nation’s first State of Philippine Design (SOPD) address, a crash course on the concept of design and a hard look at of the country’s performance vis a vis design. His talk and an accompanying series of New York-style networking events, set the country abuzz and earned press mentions in national dailies. Tenorio’s SOPD spurred National Competitiveness Council (NCC) co-chair Guillermo M. Luz to convene a private roundtable with top-tier local
designers and government officials in attendance one week later. While the country relaxed on a Sunday morning, Luz and Tenorio, together with industry stars Kenneth Cobonpue, Budji Layug and Royal Pineda, and the secretaries of transportation, trade and industry and education, were hashing out how to address the country’s weak country branding. The rest is history in the making. The Senate bill, having undergone a second revision, is still under debate, with Tenorio and a cadre of designers under watch. Tenorio estimates it will be passed within 2012. The more controversial matter, according to Tenorio, will be finding the right designers and officials to run it. In the meantime, Tenorio is balancing a job as design consultant for development at the Asian Development Bank, a follow-up to his first SOPD in March (which he hints could be televised), an indie movie to be directed by Cairo Film Festival-winning director Alvin Yapan aimed at showcasing local design to a world audience, and even a TV series on local creative talent businesses. A full plate for one man, to say the least. Whether he accomplishes it all, only time will tell. briantenorio.com
Portrait Wawi Navarroza
WORDS CARREN JAO