May 2016 Volume 10 | Issue 9
HOMETOWN HERO
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CONT ENTS 19
14 COVER STORY Photographer Czar Kristoff’s eye for the mundane
MARKET Homebody’s keepsakes
Cover photo by Geric Cruz
28 EATS Your afterwork chicken run
MAY 2016 04 FIXTURE Small-scale changes for an eco-friendly lifestyle
08 CRAFT A place of comfort off the ground
05 HEALTH Setting the time boosts productivity
31 RECIPE Ocean fare in a slow stew
06 BEAUTY Notes on mixing skincare ingredients
32 THE GET Old design meets new technology
EDITOR’S NOTE Habitual interest Getting up every day may seem like a chore—another day to face the all-too-real world. Maybe you’d rather sleep in a little longer or hide under a rock for a day or two. But what really makes you get up every morning? Most of the time we’re too distracted by the tasks that need to be accomplished for the next 24 hours that we tend to set aside how this day is actually a step closer to your lifelong goal. It is the paradox of forgetting and losing ourselves because of being engrossed in responsibilities at home or work.
We all have the same goal: live doing what we love. Author Mason Currey quoted Franz Kafka in his new book Daily Rituals: “time is short, my strength is limited, the office is a horror, the apartment is noisy, and if a pleasant straightforward life is not possible then one must try to wriggle through by subtle maneuvers.” We all have a thousand excuses to explain why we’re not moving forward. So in this issue, we sat down with photographer Czar Kristoff and talked about how he gained his footing by pursuing his passion.
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Southern Living is published by Hinge Inquirer Publications. 4F Media Resource Plaza, Mola corner Pasong Tirad Street, Barangay La Paz, Makati City. Visit www.facebook.com/ southernlivingmagazine now. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter at @slivingph. We’d love to hear from you. Email us at sliving@hip.ph. For advertising, email sales@hip.ph. This magazine was printed responsibly using recycled paper with biodegradable ink.
FEEDBACK
SOUTHERN living
PATCHWORK
GROUP PUBLISHER BEA J. LEDESMA MANAGING EDITOR DENISE DANIELLE ALCANTARA EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS LEX CELERA, PRISTINE L. DE LEON, RENZ NOLLASE CREATIVE DIRECTOR NIMU MUALLAM GRAPHIC ARTIST DANICA CONDEZ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER PATRICK SEGOVIA
I love your story on Saori art and how it embraces imperfections. I crochet, and now, I feel like incorporating my own elements into it like in Saori. Keep making more stories like this, please!
CONTRIBUTORS WRITERS CHARLIE CARBUNGCO, INA AMOR MEJIA, PAULINE MIRANDA ILLUSTRATOR REESE LANSANGAN, TRISTAN TAMAYO STYLISTS EDLENE CABRAL, CHARLIE CARBUNGCO, INA AMOR MEJIA HAIR AND MAKEUP JAYMAR LAHAYLAHAY, CHUCHIE LEDESMA, ARIA ORTEGA, BULLET REYES
- Annalee Mendoza
PHOTOGRAPHERS GABBY CANTERO, GERIC CRUZ, INA AMOR MEJIA, RALPH MENDOZA, ARTU NEPOMUCENO COPY EDITOR PATRICIA ROMUALDEZ PROOFREADER ROMEO MORAN EDITORIAL CONSULTANT RIA FRANCISCO-PRIETO BOARD CHAIRPERSON ALEXANDRA PRIETO-ROMUALDEZ IGC CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER AND CFO J. FERDINAND DE LUZURIAGA IGC DEPUTY CHIEF FINANCE OFFICER ATTY. RUDYARD ARBOLADO VP AND GROUP HR HEAD RAYMUND SOBERANO VP AND CHIEF STRATEGIC PLANNING OFFICER IMELDA ALCANTARA SVP AND GROUP SALES HEAD FELIPE R. OLARTE AVP FOR SALES MA. KATRINA MAE G. DALUSONG SALES SUPERVISOR JOY SANTOS-PILAR KEY ACCOUNTS SPECIALIST ANGELITA TAN-IBAÑEZ SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES ABBY GINAGA, ALETHEIA ORDIALES ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES ANDIE ZUÑIGA, CHARM BANZUELO, SARAH CABALATUNGAN, LIZA JISON SALES SUPPORT ASSISTANTS KAREN ALIASAS, RECHELLE NICDAO CUSTOM SALES SUPERVISOR POLO P. DAGDAG MANAGING EDITOR ANGELA VELASCO ASSOCIATE MANAGING EDITOR PAM BROOKE CASIN SENIOR EDITORIAL ASSISTANT PAULINE MIRANDA EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS KHEENA ALELOJO, PAMELA JEAN CARLOTA, CHRISTELLE TOLISORA SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE SHANNA MALING ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE INA MATEO GRAPHIC ARTISTS ROI DE CASTRO, RACHELL FLORES, KATRICE MONTES, YAYIE MOTOS, JAYCELINE SORIANO PRODUCTION MANAGER JAN CARIQUITAN PRODUCTION ASSISTANT MARICEL GAVINO FINAL ART SUPERVISOR DENNIS CRUZ FA ARTIST KRISTINE MAY PAZ MARKETING AND EVENTS MANAGER TARA VALENCIA MARKETING ASSISTANTS ERLE MAMAWAL, JANNELLE TURIJA EVENTS ASSISTANT KIM MARIANO GRAPHIC ARTIST JANINE DELA CUESTA
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SOUTHERN living
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FIND SOUTHERN LIVING AT STARBUCKS COFFEE, THE MANILA PENINSULA, ALABANG COUNTRY CLUB, HEIMA, DUSIT THANI HOTEL, AYALA MUSEUM, AND FULLY BOOKED.
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FIXT URE
PARADIGM SHIFT Looking for new ways to reduce our carbon footprint TEXT LEX CELERA ILLUSTRATION TRISTAN TAMAYO
Our carbon footprint goes as far or as deep as the steps we take every day. No matter how much we try to reduce that footprint, we are still leaving space
for waste. So why not take a step in a different direction and think outside the box? Here are some unexpected habits that we can adopt for meaningful change.
GO ELECTRONIC How can using our gadgets reduce our carbon emissions? A ton of unrecycled paper means gallons of water and almost a ton of waste in a landfill. Saving our files in the cloud and checking the news online are safe and available alternatives that lead to less unnecessary printing.
TAKE CARE OF YOUR CAR Cars are the unavoidable monsters that emit carbon, but there are ways to reduce their emissions. Avoid abrupt acceleration and braking when driving. Reduce fuel consumption with regular car maintenance, including proper tire inflation and engine tuning.
TAKE SHOWERS INSTEAD OF BATHS Consider the estimated 85 liters of water used during baths compared to the more economical 35 liters when taking a shower. Cleaning yourself is a daily, individual task, and a fiveminute shower for each member of the family greatly reduces water usage compared to a 20-minute bath.
BE MINDFUL OF YOUR TRAVEL HABITS Consider what chores you can accomplish on a single trip. When traveling by car, think about the errands you can run while you’re on the road. Even air travel is not exempt. Nonstop flights are better than connecting flights (about 50 percent of carbon emissions come from takeoffs and landings). As much as possible, consider traveling by ground rather than by air.
CHANGING YOUR DIET Aside from committing to a meat-free diet (which generates only half the carbon dioxide compared to a diet with meat), a less drastic but also helpful change would be purchasing food that are in season to cut down emissions of the vehicles that transport them. Buying locally helps too.
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HEALT H
INTRODUCING THE POMODORO What does hacking time feel like?
TEXT LEX CELERA ILLUSTRATION DANICA CONDEZ
Time is an enemy that guards every deadline like a hawk. But do we mark it with deadlines or completed tasks? How much of our time is wasted by distractions? Pomodoro, the Italian word for “tomato,” is the icon and namesake for the Pomodoro Technique, conceptualized by Francesco Cirillo after his tomatoshaped kitchen timer. Introduced in the 1980s, the timesaving method was popular in the 1990s and to this day proves a worthy method to incorporate in daily use. The tenets of the Pomodoro Technique are broadly discussed in Cirillo’s book of the same name, but can be divided into these basic steps: • Set a timer for 25 minutes. • For those minutes, you will commit yourself solely to a certain task. There is no space for distractions.
•
After those 25 minutes, you are free to take five minutes of complete, disconnected rest. For the last five minutes, Cirillo recommends tasks that aren’t taxing to the brain—stretching exercises, going to the restroom, having a drink, etc. When you’ve done four cycles of work and rest, you are free to take a 15- to 30- minute rest. And then the process resets. Having a checklist for your 25-minute work sessions and five-minute rests can also help. Benefits of this technique are outlined on the website, including eliminating burnout, managing both your priorities and distractions (which are not necessarily different), and tipping the scales of work and life balance in your favor. When time spent working is managed, so is free time, and that means saying goodbye to procrastination. Perhaps the main benefit of the Pomodoro Technique is a paradigm shift in how we view time. No longer will hours, minutes, and seconds trace the line between the present time and our ever-looming deadlines. Instead, they will be allies for both our trivial curiosities (in the form of checking our phones and making small talk) and our tasks.
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BEAUT Y
NO BUENO
Finding out which skincare-ingredient combinations do more harm than good TEXT RENZ NOLLASE ILLUSTRATION REESE LANSANGAN
A good beauty regimen is personalized and consistent. With the multitude of skincare products on beauty aisles, creating a skincare routine can be difficult and confusing-it’s of no help as well that product labels read like a chemist’s handbook. To complicate things further, skincare ingredients, both on their own and combined with other components of other skincare products, can pose health risks when purchased and applied carelessly. Vitamin C is having its moment in beauty. A potent source of antioxidants, this key ingredient improves the skin’s self-healing ability, reduces brown spots, and promotes healthy collagen production. However, a mix of vitamin C with copper peptides, useful for collagen formation, or benzoyl peroxide, found in acne treatment products, renders both ingredients useless. Vitamin C cancels the ingredients’ effectiveness
and vice versa. Avoid using products containing vitamin C with other acid-based ingredients such as alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs) as the combination may irritate your skin and cause excessive peeling. In fact, be wary of incorporating too many acid-based ingredients in your beauty routine. Salicylic acid, glycolic acid, retinol (retinoic acid and retinyl palmitate), AHAs, and benzoyl peroxide are used to treat acne and exfoliate the skin, but layering on products with these ingredients dries out the skin and may cause it to peel excessively, which can lead to blisters, scars, and even discoloration. Check the acid concentration in your skincare products: In product labels, ingredients are listed in descending order of concentration. Invest time in understanding your skin-a little research goes a long way, and the next time you visit the beauty aisle, you can make it your mini chemist’s library.
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Make your own:
AVOCADO AND BANANA FACE MASK Ingredients: 1/2 avocado, mashed 1/2 banana, mashed 1 tsp. honey What to do: 1. Mix together avocado, banana, and honey until creamy. 2. Apply on face and neck with a makeup spatula or your hands and leave on for 20 minutes. 3. Wash off with warm water.
CEBU LIVING
VOLUME 2 ISSUE 3
MICHAEL CANCIO Lessons from a slice of pizza Napolitana Page 14
FRANZ IGNACIO
New rules of design from the man behind bamboo speakers Page 16
KRYZ UY
Shifting from trends to a brand of her own Page 15
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Y O U R G U I D E T O T H E H O M E O F P A S S I O N AT E M I N D S
ISSUE
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VO L .
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DECEMBER
2015
AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT By pressing people to come to terms with the gay Filipino identity, publishing polymath Paolo Lorenzana leads this generation towards a more openminded and accepting era GOING EVERYWHERE The blueprint for the perfect holiday situation according to three Bonifacio Global City denizens
ORIGINAL EXPERIENCE An industrial gastronome space is incubating an indulgent-meetsorganic concept to cater to palates
ARTISTIC MERIT Why the Philippines is becoming an important market for high-end European furniture brands
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CR AF T
HAPPY PLACE
Create your own corner of calm with this hammock chair TEXT, STYLING, AND PHOTOGRAPHY INA AMOR MEJIA
HAMMOCK What you’ll need: Canvas fabric, (3 feet by 5 feet) Braided polypropylene rope (3/8” thick, 16-18 feet long) Sturdy wooden dowel/rod about (1.4” thick, 3.5 feet long) 80mm stainless steel spring snap link 3/16” stainless steel quick link Drill and 3/8” drill bit Sewing machine Scissors Procedure: 1. Fold by half an inch and sew the top and bottom edges (3 feet side) of the canvas. 2. Create a 2-inch fold on each side of the long edges and sew with two lines. This will be where the rope goes through. 3. Drill a pair of holes on the opposite ends of the dowel, 2” and 4” from each end. 4. Knot one end of your rope and thread the other end through one outer hole of the dowel and through one of the folds on the canvas all the way to the top. 5. Tie a second knot 3 feet after the first knot. Thread the end of the rope through the inner holes of the dowel. Tie another knot about 3 feet from the loose end, then pull the loose end through the opposite fold of the canvas from top to bottom. 6. Pull the end of the rope through the last outer hole and tie a knot with a tail. Glue the tail ends to prevent fraying. 8. Attach your links securely to the ceiling or beam, and suspend the chair using a loop made from the top rope, keeping the chair low for safety. NOTE: Make sure the dowel, rope and links can support the appropriate weight. The chair is not meant for swinging, so please observe caution when using it.
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SOUT HERNER
RULES OF DISCOVERY
Sabina Gonzalez treads through life independently—sans the pressure of her mom Tweetie De Leon-Gonzalez’s fashion legacy TEXT DENISE DANIELLE ALCANTARA PHOTOGRAPHY ARTU NEPOMUCENO
Tread the less traveled path, they say, and you shall discover what your soul truly aches for. Taking a long journey—often alone—to some exotic and unknown land, immersing in foreign cultures and traditions, is often linked to promises of transformation and maturity. It’s in discovering the uncharted that we find something within us to endure difficulties and adjust to any unforeseen circumstances that we may face. But in the Gonzalez household, the family’s belief departs from this cliché. “To be honest, all of us consider home our happy place. When we do want to escape, the answer really is just home. We try our best to make this place a relaxing oasis for everybody,” mother of four Tweetie de Leon-Gonzalez stresses. Apart from building a stellar career in the dynamic and demanding fashion industry, Tweetie and her husband Mon Gonzalez designed a happy home where every family member is content and free—a state seldom heard or seen in this day and age. She reveals that she is a balanced parent who ceaselessly tries “to understand how to get into her children’s psyche to understand each other at a certain level.“ Less than a year ago, the name Sabina Gonzalez started appearing in fashion and lifestyle publications. Debuting in Maureen Disini’s solo fashion show by Inquirer RED, the fresh-faced, tall, morena model donned a black tube gown and strutted down the
runway with ease. Almost everyone in the audience did a double take and looked closely to recognize the physical similarities to fashion icon Tweetie de LeonGonzalez. Sabina’s round eyes, heart-shaped face, and slender physique were reminiscent of Tweetie’s younger self. Instant publicity followed. “Of course there is pressure, but I would still feel the pressure even if that weren’t the case,” reveals Sabina as she talks about following in her mother’s footsteps as a runway model. Dispelling the common misconception that Sabina has unlimited tips and lessons from her mom in the bag, Tweetie says, “Modeling was something we never discussed here at home. For them, that was work for mom. If ever I have something in the house, like this shoot, they would just steer clear and wouldn’t get involved. It’s not something they grew up being fascinated with.” Sabina agrees that her mom never imposed a standard on her to continue her fashion legacy. “She doesn’t tell me how to do things. She often advises me to do my own thing and gives me support and words of encouragement, but not necessarily tips [on modeling].” Recently, she gained more opportunities as the model and muse for fashion designer Rhett Eala’s newest collection and an ambassador for local cosmetic brand Happy Skin’s collaboration with ready-to-wear retail brand Plains & Prints.
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SOUT HERNER However, Sabina’s top priority will always be her studies. Currently taking architecture at De La SalleCollege of St. Benilde, a far cry from her mom’s chosen career, she shares that modeling isn’t really something she aspires to do in the long run. “When given the opportunity to walk for Maureen, I just wanted to try it out.” Sabina’s pursuit of an architecture degree did not happen by accident. Influenced by her dad’s business as a contractor and her mom’s creativity, she found the perfect marriage of pursuing both her parent’s passions. But it was not an easy path for her. She shifted to architecture after ending her freshman year in De La Salle University-Manila as a marketing major. “My parents never tried to push anything on us. Sometimes, I wish they did, so I would have realized what I wanted a bit early on,” Sabina admits. Like any teenager, she doesn’t have it all figured out just yet. With her mom as her role model, she has always had the freedom to choose any endeavor she wanted to pursue. Tweetie admits that she is very proud of her daughter’s success in the fashion industry but also
emphasizes that she is not a stage mom. That applies to her younger sons as well. Sometimes freedom has its drawbacks, but it has also allowed the Gonzalez children to trust their own intuition and find what their hearts yearn for without external influences. “They are allowed to explore that and pursue it for as long as they are guided by the values that we’ve instilled in them. We’re okay with that,” Tweetie further explains. For the first time, Sabina feels that she has found something that she really wants to do and make a career of, and that isn’t modeling. “Don’t get me wrong, I think fashion is fascinating. It’s not that I have no interest in it at all, but I don’t think it’s for me.” “If there’s anything that I want to impose on her, and that I’m already imposing on her, it’s to finish school,” emphasizes Tweetie. “They have their own characters; they have their own dreams. And it’s not because they are my children; my interests would be the same. They all live under the same house with the same environment and rules, yet each have has his or her own idea of what happiness is all about.”
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HAIR JAYMAR LAHAYLAHAY STYLING EDLENE CABRAL
SOUTHERN living
MAKEUP CHUCHIE LEDESMA (FOR SABINA) ARIA ORTEGA (FOR TWEETIE)
“My children all live under the same house with the same environment and rules, yet each has his or her own idea of what happiness is all about.”
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COV ER STORY
STRANGER IN THE STREETS SOUTHERN living
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COV ER STORY
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ARTWORK CZAR KRISTOFF
“Sometimes, I feel like I’m living two different lives, like the one making these is a different person.”
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COV ER STORY
“I used to go around everywhere carrying my camera with people thinking, ‘Who’s this weirdo taking pictures?’” In a country oversaturated with tarps, construction sites, and plenty of other visual noise, one elusive photographer proves that things aren’t exactly as they seem TEXT PRISTINE L. DE LEON PHOTOGRAPHY GERIC CRUZ
There may be a reason photographer Czar Kristoff is described as “enigmatic.” “If he says yes to this photo shoot,” says a mutual friend, “you just cannot take a picture of his face.” Kristoff has exhibited his works in London, Vienna, and Berlin. He also participated in the Philippines’ group show in 2016 Art Dubai. “His works are very stark,” says Wawi Navarroza, founder and director of Thousandfold which published Kristoff’s first photozine last year. “Shooting in a construction site, a photographer would always give context to the structures laid, but here, it’s Kristoff looking at a rock—there’s something very direct and very focused, in a sense. It’s abstract and figurative at the same time.” During the recent Art Dubai, Thousandfold exhibited Kristoff’s shots of rugs, rocks, tarpaulins, and workers that look less like subjects in a construction site than sculptures and slow-moving characters from an eerily lit, monochromatic dystopia. There’s something menacing in their stillness, to an extent, or something infuriating in their refusal to disclose what they are or where they’re from. Culled from his daily whereabouts, Kristoff’s Instagram account @lagunadaily (which Office of Culture and Design director Clara Balaguer jokingly calls Kristoff’s “real work”) does the same, in the sense that it recasts tarpaulins and signboards as structures in the streets. Yet again, there’s no sign of the artist here. “Are you surprised that I’m not white?” he asks, five minutes into our first meeting. Czar, whose name connotes a powerful Russian ruler, lives in a town that’s a 55-peso bus ride’s distance from Manila. Here, he takes the seat behind the driver in the tricycle to take me on a tour of his empire of speeding jeeps. The town exerts its usual hackneyed poetics: tarps strewn everywhere, haughty political jingles coaxing popular devotion, stray dogs. “Here in the town proper, what you instantly notice are the colors,” he says as I take in the noise. “I used to go around everywhere carrying my camera with people thinking, ‘Who’s this weirdo taking pictures?’” It was in Laguna that he produced the first series of
photos for which he first gained recognition. Kristoff who confesses that he’s an introvert with an aversion to malls (“I get anxious when I go outside”), began documenting the skateboarding scene six years ago. “I was just walking and I took a few snaps, which were really shitty photos. My mom would get mad at me, saying, ‘Gabi-gabi ka na lang nandiyan.’” Then a homebody, Kristoff immersed himself in skateboarding culture and produced photos that eventually found their way to international publications. “I had never seen images of skateboarding done with such intelligence and finesse,” says fellow photographer Cru Camara. “It embodied the spirit of skate culture closer than anything else I’ve seen.” There may have been a shared trait between the dynamic skateboarders and the reserved photographer: the ability to see objects beyond what they are ordinarily. “I think [the skateboarders] are very adventurous and abstract—abstract in the sense that they treat the urban landscape as a playground,” says Kristoff. “The stairs are not stairs to them; it’s an obstacle, a space, a canvas. The concept affected the way I see and approach my subjects.” Kristoff did his share of fashion and commercial photography, contributing to local publications and shooting pieces by Louis Vuitton and designer Carl Jan Cruz. He shows me a photo taken in Circuit Makati during a commercial shoot in 2012. It’s an ominous blackand-white image that has the air of a post-apocalyptic wasteland. “I was shooting this fashion editorial and this was my favorite image. The wind blew hard and all these basura bags were flying. For me, it was beautiful. They’re building a utopia activity space and all of a sudden, there were garbage bags from above.” He started assisting art photographer Charles Buenconsejo, who introduced him to new movements in photography. Answering open calls by publications based abroad, Kristoff started submitting photos and gaining recognition through his works. First was a magazine called If You Leave in London. Then he did some online takeovers for the website Self Publish, Be Happy and Paper Journal. “They’re really legit. And they’d get someone like me from a third world country,” he muses.
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COV ER STORY
“Sometimes, I feel like I’m living two different lives, like the one making these is a different person.” I remember his odd request not to take photos of his face. Is it for the viewer to focus only on the work and not its author? There have been countless magazine covers decided upon based on the face of the subject and many more brilliant successes won by way of some furious smooth-talking. The idea that the Internet makes things a little more democratic is attractive. “I met Czar through the Internet,” Wawi Navarroza similarly remarks. “It’s good to work with a young artist full of possibilities who is still raw but has room to find out what his photography can do for him or in the bigger sense, for the contemporary art world.” Thousandfold, as it launched last year, ushered Kristoff’s works into the local limelight, beginning with co-publishing the artist’s first photozine entitled Fugue, which was put together during his father’s funeral. Branches, scaffoldings, pots and pans set against a poster of a cartoon; a river from his childhood; and a man getting a haircut find residence in its pages. Under harsh light, the images seem to trigger and project familiar settings and characters from memory—even if the recollections are not entirely the viewer’s own. “The main idea of the zine is to archive images that I find myself wandering or flying to, both literally and metaphorically,” he explains. “Those shot in the previous years combine with the few new images I made during the wake. I created something that consists of the refusal of certain truths, traces of memories, and desire of renewal—all executed as a vague narrative,
which kind of defines my relationship with my father.” He says his second zine, Ephemeral Motives, is about “a short-lived romance.” In all his works, including the recent Configurations, all the images exert the strangeness of a slow, unmoving country: spaces and people caught in mid-suspension or in mid-dance. “Many say that the people I shoot are like sculptures in a photo,” says Kristoff. For instance, taken out of context, the construction worker in his new zine may pass as an authority figure in a sci-fi film or a hero on a coin. Each subject finds new context and new meaning through his lens. Camara adds, “Czar is a keen and quiet observer. His work is like an inner dialogue of observations that he tries to make sense of through his images. I think his introversion is most apparent in his photographs of people. They’re fragmented and detached, and you can sense some sort of avoidance in them, but they’re also strangely personal and emotional.” Ambiguity, with its evasions and confrontations, lies at the core of the works’ moving eeriness and is their greatest allure. “I have felt like an outsider ever since,” says Kristoff. “Maybe it’s a good thing. I see things differently. I approach or I react to things that may be usual for others. Being a visitor is a good thing sometimes.” Perhaps it isn’t so much that Kristoff is an enigma. It’s that the world has lost all nuance of strangeness to the regular spectator. We walk down the street and he shoots a torn tarpaulin swaying in the hot wind—it takes his lenses to make the streets as quiet, as strange, and as moving as he is.
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COV MER ARKET STORY
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STATE OF MIND A homebody's neccessities for the first rainfall of May PHOTOGRAPHY PATRICK SEGOVIA
1. Pillow, P895, Pottery Barn, Bonifacio High Street. 2. Pillow, P1,799.75, John Lewis, SM Home, SM Makati. 3. Bluetooth speaker, P4,950, Braven, Beyond the Box, One Rockwell. 4. Throw blanket, P2,499.75, John Lewis, SM Home, SM Makati. 5. Cup and saucer, P899.75, John Lewis, SM Home, SM Makati. 6. Cardigan, P1,190, H&M, SM Makati. 7. Long-sleeved shirt, P1,190, H&M, SM Makati. 8. Anti-allergy bed cover, P2,999.75, John Lewis, SM Home, SM Makati.
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SHOT ON LOCATION SONRIA ALABANG
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ST YLE
COME LATER DAYS Dawdling in the city's pockets of green
STYLING EDLENE CABRAL PHOTOGRAPHY RALPH MENDOZA
HERE Exploring sentimentality through different threads and cuts PHOTOGRAPHY RALPH MENDOZA STYLING MELVIN MOJICA
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ST YLE
On Cass (left): Dress, P4,395. On Bronija (right): Dress, P3,995. Both Miss Selfridge, Greenbelt 5.
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ST YLE
SHOT ON LOCATION SONRIA ALABANG
Boxer shorts (worn underneath) and shorts with slit, Carl Jan Cruz, www.carljancruz.com.
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MAKEUP AND HAIR BULLET REYES MODEL BRONIJA AND CASS OF ELITE MANILA
Romper, P2,995, Sfera, SM Makati. Pullover, P785, and skirt, P1,185, both Forever 21, SM Makati.
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ST YLE
Dress, P2,795, Dorothy Perkins, Glorietta 2.
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EATS The “Chemical” version of the Chicken Sandwich is identified with an umbrella. Three potstickers can be added to the garlic noodles for an additional cost.
GAME OF FOWLS
With the right chicken recipe and a dose of nostalgia, FowlBread hits the Filipino diner’s sweet spot TEXT DENISE DANIELLE ALCANTARA PHOTOGRAPHY PATRICK SEGOVIA
There has been some shade throwing on social media over who serves the best chicken. Does it induce joy in every bite? Is it finger licking good? Do you love it enough? My grandfather once said that if you want to be a millionaire in the food business, do something phenomenal with the ubiquitous chicken. He’s not so wrong, after all. Even after numerous reinventions, people are still willing to try and readily embrace the newest chicken trend. Scrolling through different posts about a chicken sandwich on social media made me think, “What can be so special about this one?” Starting with the star of FowlBread’s very limited cast, the Chicken Sandwich is available in three levels of spiciness: Safe, Spicy, and Chemical. These options may sound familiar because of sister
restaurant Bad Bird’s triumphant version of good ol’ fried chicken: FowlBread still offers that umami experience but with a different twist. In every bite of what you perceive as a perfectly normal sandwich is a crunchy surprise. Sandwiched between two brioche buns are layers of breaded chicken meat, pickles, radish, and, last but definitely not the least, a thin layer of sinfully good breaded chicken skin, which makes all the difference. This may be served with a side of Salted Fries or Garlic Fries. But there’s more to FowlBread than a glorified chicken sandwich. Entering the doors of the very limited space is like going through a time machine. Pebbled walls and floors, shelves adorned with trophies and vintage memorabilia, and jalousie windows bring you back to your tito’s house in the ’80s.
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The menu is composed of five things: Chicken Sandwich, Garlic Egg Noodle, Potstickers, Fries, and Banana Donuts. Every dish is reminiscent of a very specific childhood memory. As an order of Garlic Egg Noodle enters the room, you will instantly get a whiff of an all-too familiar snack, the pancit canton. The Potstickers are like your lola’s version of gyoza. The texture of the Banana Donuts is similar to the fluffy mini donuts you used to purchase in mall food stalls. Fowlbread’s version is more Munchkin-like and served with chocolate for dipping. FowlBread has captured two national weaknesses: nostalgia and chicken. With these two at play, no wonder it’s on your social media feed every day and tables in the actual restaurant are being turned over quickly.
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EATS Clockwise from right: The counter at the front may make it seem like there’s limited seating, but there are more seats at the back.Their Banana Donuts are best dipped in chocolate.
FowlBread. Building 3, Bonifacio High Street, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City. 799-2571. 0947-492-1817. www.facebook.com/fowlbread.
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RECIPE
TASTING THE WATERS A pot full of the market’s freshest catch
TEXT AND STYLING CHARLIE CARBUNGCO PHOTOGRAPHY GABBY CANTERO
SEAFOOD STEW INGREDIENTS
2 tbsp. olive oil 2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil 1/4 kg. clams 1/4 kg. mussels 1/4 kg. shrimps 1/4 kg. baby squid 10 to 13 garlic cloves, chopped 2 tbsp. onions, minced 2 cups tomates, diced 1/2 cup red wine 1 cup chopped parsley 1 to 2 tsp. chili flakes Sugar Salt Pepper
PREPARATION
1. On a medium pot, sauté olive oil and half of the chopped garlic. Add the clams and mussels, and then mix it thoroughly. Pour 2 cups of water, and let it simmer for 20 to 30 minutes. 2. Using another saucepot, sauté onion and garlic then pour the red wine and let it simmer until reduced. Add the diced tomatoes and chopped parsley. Let it simmer
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for another 10 to 15 minutes. 3. Once the shells are cooked, separate stock and shells. 4. Add the seafood stock to the tomato mixture, and let it simmer for 10 minutes. Add the baby squid and shrimp, and let it cook for another 5 to 6 minutes. 5. Pour in the clams and mussles then garnish with chopped parsley and chili flakes.
T HE GET
IN A NEW LIGHT
The vintage light aesthetic sees both a reemergence and a reinvention with a greener, more efficient fixture TEXT PAULINE MIRANDA PHOTOGRAPHY PATRICK SEGOVIA
As with many things of the past experiencing reincarnation these days, the light bulb’s antique form is once again a fixture in all kinds of spaces, from private spots in homes to open, communal areas of restaurants. And despite the world’s shift to incandescent bulbs and energy-saving, cost-efficient compact fluorescent lighting, the vintage light bulb continues to gain popularity among designers. Thanks to studies on architecture’s effects on health, designers and owners are more aware of the effect of lighting on mood. Aware of this trend and favoring objects from the past, light manufacturers have adapted by reinventing Thomas Edison’s patented bulb, infusing the classic design with modern lighting technology. From its previous capacity to produce light—and heat, for the most part—using tungsten filament, light manufacturers like Orbik renewed the Edison bulb with the use of LED, giving the bulbs better energy efficiency and a longer life span. Running for as long as 3,500 hours at 40 watts, Orbik’s LED Edison bulb lasts almost thrice as long as incandescent bulbs, striking a satisfying balance between efficiency and mood-defining design.
Available at Metal-lite, MC Home Depot. 32nd St., cor. Bonifacio Blvd., Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City. 812-6217 / 815-6218.
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Enjoy the convenience of having your favorite Coca-Cola drinks delivered to your home and office.
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