studioRST
ABOUT
StudioRST is a design studio by Raisa Tantuico Vargas created in 2014, while completing her studies in Architecture. She combines her training in Architecture from the University of the Philippines and her studies in Parsons the New School for Design, New York, in a search for the perfect balance between contradicting themes in her process and work. The intent of each project is to find that balance between themes such as craft and mass manufacture, functionality and sensuality, tradition and modernism, retro vs. future, etc. From that tension, she finds a starting point to her design. For her first collection, Raisa takes remnants of moldings, door casings and ceiling cornices from the construction industry as the main element in her design. The ubiquitous molding, the quintessential fixture in every Filipino home, often unnoticed, yet conspicuous in nature is the subject of her exploration. Raisa examines contradicting views such as store bought moldings vs. handcarved moldings, ornament vs. object, etc. She takes inspiration from the paintings of Rothko, the architecture of Luis Barragan and Ettore Sottsass. The result are whimsical expresions of what it is, ornament or accessory? Shying away from the romanticism of making new use of ‘indigenous’ material or making new from traditional ways, she yearns to break away more fully from what to her, has become different versions of the same thing. Her design is an ongoing dialog of her vision to experiment, create and explore new objects that have more honest and lasting connections with the user.
CONTACT for viewings/appointments raisatantuico@gmail.com 09175546800