I HAVE always associated May as a beautiful month—with spring, flowers, fiestas and Flores de Mayo.
The month of May brings forth many reasons for celebrating the National Interior Design Festival. Presidential Proclamation 439, Series of 2003, declared the Month of May of every year as National Heritage Month; and PP 390, Series 2012, declared the last week of May of every year as National Interior Design Week. The Interior Design Festival celebration also coincides with the World Celebration of Interior Design Day.
The development of the professional interior design practice in the Philippines has been ahead of its colleagues in the Asia-Pacific region.
From the time the Philippine Institute of Interior Designers was formed in 1964, a steady growth towards professionalism was established. The PIID launched the National Interior Design Festival 2018 with three main event—Pamana, Karunungan, at Kawang-gawa.
Pamana promotes cultural heritage through a Heritage Tour entitled “Sagala ng Kulinarya at Kultura: Pamana ng Architectura, Sining at Pananamit.” The participants experienced the rich cultural heritage of the Southern Tagalog region through the survey of ancestral homes and a Catholic cathedral with the longest nave in Asia. The activity included an in-depth experience of the dying art of embroidery demonstrated by the Taal artisan embroiderers. The PIID also promotes Pamana ng Lahi at Kalikasan by encouraging activities that lessen carbon footprint, as the participants are urged to carpool to get to the events.
Karunungan (Knowledge) provides Continuing Professional Development (CPD) seminar for professional interior designers and interior design students from different parts of the country. The theme for this event is “Rethinking Interior Design in a Borderless Practice.” To deepen the awareness of the profession and practice to optimize the career’s performance and self-empowerment, to establish strong working relationships (collaboration), and gain critical and analytical insights of human behavior and to improveme the quality of life in the built environment are the objectives of the event. The two-day event, which started yesterday, is held at the SDA Theater of College of Saint Benilde, Manila. Shashi Caan from the International Federation of Interior Architects/Designers (IFI), winner of numerous awards and recognition, an exemplary career in education, and a sought-after public speaker, is the resource speaker on “Acknowledging the Complex Nature of Design in a Borderless Practice.”
Kawang-gawa (Charity) expresses the Community Service program of the PIID, which is focused on uplifting the spirit of the elderly in a nursing home facility by providing immediate support for their basic needs by improving their environment through interior design. Bahay ni Maria Home for the Abandoned Elderly and Children with Special Needs in Calamba, Laguna, is the beneficiary for the fund-raising.
The celebration of National Interior Design Festival culminates in Cebu, on June 1. PIID-Cebu Chapter will organize a plenary session with Caan and a heritage tour of Casa Gorordo located in a historic area of Cebu.
In the forefront of Asean integration, the Filipino Interior designer is facing practice without borders. The PIID, through its programs, is positive in facing this challenge; to help inspire, encourage and to deliver world-class Filipino interior designs that are creatively unique, aesthetically desirable, and efficiently designed with a high level of global competency.