Children’s bedrooms don’t always have to be vibrant, and tableware doesn’t really need to come from the same set.
Personalities across different fields stretch the limits of popular home designs to great effect with quirky setups in Shangri-La Plaza’s Urban Filipino Home exhibit, which runs at the mall’s Grand Atrium in the Main Wing until August 23.
Shangri-La Plaza Executive Vice President and General Manager Lala Fojas said that they tapped celebrity curators of varying backgrounds to reflect the limitless possibilities of personalization in interior design. Each display showcases items from home brands available at Shangri-La Plaza.
“We want to tell our mall guests we have everything here that they want to have in sprucing their home,” Fojas said at the sidelines of the exhibit’s recent launch.
One of the celebrity curators is host and columnist Stephanie Zubiri-Crespi. A mom of two young boys, she went with a kid’s bedroom with muted tones.
“People tend to get overly childish, bright or themed when it comes to children’s rooms, but it needs to be a space they can come home to and be cozy with,” Zubiri-Crespi said.
With 3-year-old and 1-year-old sons, she added that a toned-down room serves as a canvas of sorts to the already-bright toys and books children typically own. The kid’s bedroom should also be appealing to the parents, since they spend a lot of time there, she said.
The low chairs, drawers and lamp in Zubiri-Crespi’s setup come from home brand Restoration, while the other pieces are from Ashley Furniture and Blims.
Fashion designer Rajo Laurel is also part of the exhibit. He came up with a “creative sanctuar”, or a place where he can “think and dream”.
Central to his setup is an Impy Pilapil painting, plus books from National Book Store and Luxe Room, carpet from Bo Concepts and a bar cart. “Right now it’s empty, but it’s usually filled,” he quipped.
The acclaimed designer added that fashion and interior design are very similar, as both “deal with colors, shapes, textures and feelings”.
Another curator is interior designer and Modern Living Editor in Chief Jie Pambid, who put up a dining room display that combines casual dining and a classy ambiance.
“My objective was to show people that a dining room doesn’t always necessarily have to consist of dining tables and dining chairs,” Pambid said.
In place of the traditional furniture that the designer took out were a coach and a bench on each side of the distressed-finish, charcoal-gray table, to go with the host dining chairs in their usual spots.
Pambid said he didn’t want to compromise the atmosphere of dining, which is why he went with accessories that afforded the space luxury and elegance.
Also a professor at the Philippine School of Interior Design, he wanted to challenge the notion of having uniform pieces as table setting. “You can play around with other pieces and still create a very nice and well-put setting,” he said. “Just remember the design principles of symmetry, balance and attention to texture.”
Aside from the displays of those three celebrity curators, there are also setups of bedrooms by balladeer Jed Madela and basketball courtside reporter Apple David; living rooms by fashion retailer Jappy Gonzales and TV personalities Tintin and Julius Babao; a music room by singer Karylle; and a home office by Xandra Ramos-Padilla of National Book Store and Anvil Publishing House.
The displays currently on view showcase pieces from brands Bo Concept, Luxe Room, Sheridan, Rustan’s Department Store, Steltz Lighting, Restoration, Tempur, Design Pod, Sealy, La-Z Boy, Shelter, Ego Italiano, La Sedia, Ariston, GE Monogram, Hacker, True Value, Ashley Furniture, Simmons Gallery, Blims, Slumberland and Shell Canvas.
Fojas, the Shangri-La Plaza executive, said their portfolio of home brands is set to get another boost with the opening of Furniture Republic at the second floor of the mall in late-September.
In Photo: 1 Lifestyle columnist Stephanie Zubiri-Crespi designs an unusual kids bedroom.
2 Interior Designer Jie Pambid with a casual, yet elegant, design of a dining area.
3 Fashion Designer Rajo Laurel curates his own personal creative sanctuary.
4 From left: Lala Fojas, Shangri-La Plaza executive vice president and general manager; Milen Treichler, marketing director for Shang Properties; Jie Pambid; Rajo Laurel; Apple David; Stephanie Zubiri-Crespi; Karylle Yuzon; Tintin and Julius Babao.