We are seeing a reverse diaspora of talents, where now the best and brightest in technology and design are coming to the Philippines.
The Philippine Institute of Interior Designers (PIID) held their third International Convention dubbed as Interior & Design Manila (I&DM) 2018 from March 8 to 10 at the SMX Convention Center Manila in Pasay City with this year’s theme “Touchpoints of Design.”
This is the only design-led trade show and convention in the country that provides a dynamic platform for creative development aligned with culture, branding and creates an opportunity to engage and educate at least some 350 attending design professionals on evolving consumer and technology trends, brand offers, best design practices around the world and inspiring designs. This year Hafele, Boysen and Hocheng Philippines Corp., three of the biggest material supplier companies partnered for the three-day event.
Same is found in their exhibition where some of the world-class, reputable brands joined to exhibit their trending, quality, future-proof materials and where at least 6,000 visitors filled the halls.
The PIID-I&DM International Convention 2018 offered a diverse set of narratives from professional designers and experts from Asia, Europe and the United States that possess a wide range of experiences. The recent convention tackled three main issues—one issue for each day.
The talks for this year’s convention were aimed at looking at making a larger challenge of developing, growing and sustaining a thriving interior-design practice.
The way practitioners do interior design is very different compared to years ago with the advent of technology. In the past, the only purpose of constructing a place meant for people was to make it functional. Sometime after interior designers started designing spaces not only served their functions, but were made aesthetically pleasing at the same time. Later on, apart from designing good-looking spaces, interior designers introduced ergonomics, and much later with high technology supporting the functionality.
Such that people now appreciate more the value of designed environment, use of the space and materials that affect their mental sphere or emotions, and these can be sum up as User Experience and Expectations. User Experience design also fully encompasses traditional human-computer interaction design, and extends it by addressing all aspects of a product or service as perceived by users.
Forward-looking, the interior designers are developing designs that are future proof with their unending research and use of efficient and effective materials in the market. After all, design is about touchpoints—unrelenting focus on the client experience.
While this is fundamentally the practice of (interior) design, their program went beyond to give more understanding on the business aspect and that interior designers are most successful when they have a clear perception of how they want to be perceived as a designer which includes what they give back to the society. Every designer can understand and develop each of these “touchpoints” to enhance the delivery of their products and services, guiding them to increase the level of client satisfaction through a heightened achievement of the designer’s vision.
The PIID-I&DM have been commended for its successful full house attendance year after year, in fact, a growing number of other design professionals, local and international, are attending, as well.