To Design Your Home, You Need To Know

To design your home, you need to know who you are, how you dress, how you live, and most important, how you dream of living.
- Moll Anderson, The Seductive Home

What May Had Been

And so... what I had been doing last May was quite random.

I attended two seminars about Learning Adobe Illustrator and The Process in Setting up a Website via Phoenix-One Knowledge Institute at Paseo de Roxas.  You can visit their Facebook page here if you are interested in learning Visual Communication, WebDesign and more.

Also did some small booth design. Concepts.

Materials and Cost Estimate Meme

Just want to share this week's design experience.  The gruesome materials and cost estimates.

It is an aspect in interior design where the designer sources out the materials to be used in the design and how much it will cost.  Of course, this is only an estimate.  The actual cost may vary.

As much that this is one of the heaviest work of being an interior designer, this is a knowledge-packed activity which can bring the designer's vision into fruition and also a step higher to the journey in the design field.

I had enjoyed doing the cost estimate for the condo project I am doing right now.  :)

And after almost a week of doing so, I came with this meme conclusion.

Of course, I still had fun along the way.

The Best Design Work Is...

“Find things you love and build around them. Designers will be the first to tell you that they'd rather not start from scratch. Their best work is a combination of what you love and what they know.”
- Karol DeWulf Nickell

The Art Diary of the Younger Mansay

Whoa!  I tried to write an art book when I was around seventeen years old?!
Good to have done this when I was younger, totally forgot it now.

In this "book" you'll...

• Meet Mr. Pencil and Ms. Paper
• Learn how to draw a 'realistic head' in the hands of a beginner
• Know how to "make faces" LOL :)
• Get inspirational thoughts in art
• But wait there's more!!! (hahaha)
• How to get a date! (the stupidest way)

 Note:  some pages have blank areas, I was suppose to stick to it the artworks I made.

There are 27 images all in all.

Here's my Art Diary written and illustrated more than a decade ago by an artsy-fartsy-dreamer! Enjoy!

Character of the Home

“When you’re building a room, you’re building character, and character is the strength and wisdom of a home.”

[Inspired Hues] Message in a Bottle

Color combinations for waiting summer adventures in the beach.

A Normal Expression

A house is but the normal expression of one's intellectual concept of fitness and his aesthetic ideal of what is beautiful. [Frank Parsons]

Natural Light

In my view, no space without natural light is worthy of human occupation.  John Saladino

Design is a Conversation

Good design has to tell a story. It has to stop people, and it has to make them wonder. Good design is a conversation.  

Most Important Production of Art

If i were asked to say what is at once the most important production of Art and the thing most to be longed for, I should answer, A beautiful House. - William Morris

Building and Design Materials: Piedra China

The Chinese Granite Cobblestone, or popularly known as "PIEDRA CHINA" here in the Philippines, are commonly used as pave stones for garages and entry roads for houses that require the aged look.

The name "PIEDRA CHINA" implies Stone from China.

I first encountered this natural material when I was part of an ancestral house restoration project. It was a 1940's house with a mix of Art Nouveau and Art Deco design style situated within the Malacanang Compound.


There was an abundance of these stones, that we thought of re-using them.  (At first I thought the piedra chinas are only cement slabs cut to random tile size patterns).

As we were hauling it, to be rearranged, the contractor in-charge to restore all the wood works told me that these 'stones', were shipped from China.  These where volcanic stones used as a ballast for Chinese ships and galleons.  When a ship reach the Philippines,they will buy silver to be imported at China.  The piedra china will be unloaded, making the silver items now the ballast of the ship as they return to China.  The piedra chinas will be then used as pave stones, and as a construction material at that time.

The piedra china's color ranges from grey. rustic browns, and toned purple.  It has an amazing visual character that we can be reminded of the "ancestral' or "bahay na bato" look.  These stones age from 300 - 400 years, or even more!  This is a perfect material to be used for that ancestral look, Mediterranean, or any style that requires the rustic charm look!

Interior Design Exhibit (Part 3) - Actual Exhibit

Tadah!

(Read Part 1 here and read Part II here)


Rockwell Land organized these exhibit to give the unit owners of The Grove opportunities to source out for interior designers and furniture suppliers.

The theme is  Secrets to Style Your Home: 100% Rockwell An Interior Design and Home Fair

It was a first time experience for my part in representing our company's services.

Art and Art History

Interior Design is an art form founded by the human need for comfort, aesthetics and most of all, the basic, shelter for human habitation.  But before we go through a series of interior design art and living, let's start defining the basics in this fields.  


Let's define art in it's basic sense. 


I have always defined ART as a "way of living."  

Comics-Trip (Real life artist's humor in the office)

A series of comics I made using my Nokia 5800.   Those were the expressive days!  Kinda miss it!

Culture Crash Fan Manga 2

GOOD NEWS!!!

After searching of who owns a copy of Culture Crash Vol.5 from my previous post, I finally found one - virtually.

I asked help from 100 Araw ng Komiks (100 Days of comics), I got an instant help in about an hour!

Culture Crash Fan Manga

Lo, and behold! 

More than a decade ago, during my high school days, a Filipino Manga emerged and I once enjoyed it during my younger artsy days.



It was called CULTURE CRASH, CCCom, for short.

 Fascinated by it, I sent a letter, but not just an ordinary letter.  It was an art. It was to the point, that the makers of Culture Crash Comics even published it on their Comic Magazine.  All fun and glee that moment was!  Then came a dilemma, I lost that copy!

MANILA FAME March 2012 - Philippines

Manila FAME was founded in 1983 by by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) through the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM) and is one of the longest running trade shows in the Asia-Pacific.

Since its founding, the show has been featuring the latest creation and design trends in furniture and furnishings, holiday and gifts and fashion. Through the years, Manila FAME has been nurturing Philippine creative manufacturers and producers and continues to promote them in the global market.

It is the only event in the Philippines approved by the Union des Foires Internationales (UFI), a Paris-based association of trade fair organizers.

Interior Design Exhibition (Part 2) - Finishes

Well, well... okay two weeks lag.  Here's the update of the ID exhibit coming up by the end of March:

Read the Part 1 here.

The team finally decided on what to put in the exhibit.  It's as simple as a discussion area, which is practically used to any other spaces aside from residential.

M-O-N-E-Y Saving Tips

How can we stretch our hard-earned money so that our needs are met sufficiently?

Let me share a few tips using the acrostic M-O-N-E-Y.

[3D Rendering] Practice Mode

[3D Rendering] Via I.I.A.

1. Table design using a frame less glass with wood carving shelf underneath in metal legs.

Quick Design Proposal for an Accounting Department Office

[3D Rendering] Via W.D.R.-D.S.

Pre-, Post-, and During College Watercolor Art

Pre-, Post- and During College Pen and Ink Art

Pre-, Post- and During College Oil Artworks

College and Post College Color Pencil Art

Pre-college and College Pencil Sketches

FB Timeline Problem Solved

I know that the FB's Timeline cover photo is cool and all, but the posts becomes somewhat 'randomly arranged' side by side the tiny timeLINE in the middle.  And I do not like the posts' arrangement at all.  Since I can't come back to the previous FB interface, I despised looking at Profile walls.

Then... just an idea popped up out of nowhere!

TRAJECTORIES

I attended a seminar today hosted by the University of the Philippines Interior Design Alumni Association.

If this is their first ever UPIDAA Design Sharing, this is my first ever solid ID seminar I attended to after I graduated... well, as far as I could remember.

The lecture series is entitled "Trajectories:  An exploration."

Construction, Architectural and Interior Design Humor

Just compiled. Enjoy. 

Having a hard time to choose?

Questions

Stumbled upon these old files.  The basic questions we ask in our lives captured in each single word.

Interior Design Exhibit Booth (Part 1) - CONCEPTS

I've been working as an interior designer for some time now, but when a new was project handed to me and my colleagues about designing a 6 sq. meters interior design exhibit booth - I screamed to my self, "Wow!  It would be just like the college days! and  ...uh-oh... what did I do during college days?"

I virtually forgot.  So it was like starting from scratch.

So before I forget about this 'same old brand new' experience.  I think I should jot down points in setting up and Interior Design Business Exhibit.  Here are my experiences for the first two days:

February 2012 Sketches

1.  The National Flag - this is the Philippine flag placed beside the stage of the FBC Auditorium.  The 'bookmark' on the side was traced from Ms. Flor's Starbucks bookmark.  Written within it are some points in the Bible preaching about Love.

Creative Mansay

I was reading posts from Creative Manila on their Facebook page, then I gave a long stare at their display photo.

Now I wonder, why is it so simple.   What's the story?

Meeting with the clouds

This morning I went to visit a site where two bathroom renovations is called for. 

The house is of a Mediterranean concept.  It was built twelve years ago but if you should see it now, it is very well maintained.  The existing interior design of these bathrooms as I put it into the client’s words has 'just got tiring to look at.'  I couldn't agree more.

Two things I learned from today’s meeting.

Definition of Interior Design

"Interior design describes a group of various yet related projects that involve turning an interior space into an effective setting for the range of human activities that are to take place there. An interior designer is someone who conducts such projects. Interior design is a multifaceted profession that includes conceptual development, liaising with the stakeholders of a project and the management and execution of the design." - Wikipedia

TRUE THAT!

For me, Interior Design is a mixture of art and science.  It is putting the freedom of fantasy into a substantial reality.  It is being able to bring a dream into an awake state - to something very tangible and very functional and valuable.  It's bringing the heart of the wholeness in the construction world.  The aspects in the field of interior design touch the closest relationship to the user.  From the floor surface that one walks to, to the cushion one sits upon, even to the daintiest spoon, or the aura we feel when we close our eyes – the interior designer can put it all into cohesion.

Removing Gallbladder Stones Without Surgery

INTRO:


I got this from my mother and this is a proven health fact, on a personal story basis. 


Story is this:  she was diagnosed to have gallbladder stones.  She tried this Regime and after a week, pea-sized stones came out from her.  She went back to the doctor, and was diagnosed stone-free.

Arti MUGS Custom Made Mugs

Complete and quite satisfied!

I made a web page for our ArtiMUGS products.

You can checkout the page here! 




We offer custom designed mugs that suits each individual's preferences and needs.
Browse the pre-made designs that you can customize to a certain extent or feel free to provide the design yourself!

Origin of the Heart Shape

For the past days I received a box of chocolate crinkles, a chocolate pudding and a rose.

All of these stuffs have one thing in common - the heart shape.

I did a research before about the origin of the heart shape but never succeeded.

So I started defining its form and the way it curved with my own meaning.

Here's the mushy heart shape definition I came up with:

Bicol Pili Tarts' Model

For the last months of JP's 2011, his bread and butter came from selling authentic Pili Tarts from Bicol.
He had buyers from neighbours, churchmates and also totally stranger from the on-line market community.
What can I say, the yummy taste explodes in the mouth!

The first Pili Tart teaser propaganda.

I did some research about the pili nut to make this post a bit informative and here are the results of my query:

The Conception of Arti-DSGN

Well, I have "conceptualized" the "persona" of ARTI long time ago,

but I never thought I would TRY to run a print business under its name.

Just got a budget to buy a printer and scanner from my SPONSORS.

It was given to me so that graphic tee design would be much more

easier for me to conceptualize.

But I know for a fact, that the TEE BUSINESS would just have to

wait because, basically, pocket is empty for that.

So I am thinking of doing something productive with this printer.

And the idea of setting up an online page for customized invitation cards would be fine.

Cannot think of any name so ARTI-DSGN would be it.

The BRAND name for my ARTIness, 

from graphic art to interior design and everything in between.