Design Talks Features a Power Lineup of Design Experts

Global design movers and influencers will lead a roster or notable speakers in Design Talks, a fourday, design-oriented series of talks to be held during the 60th show edition of Manila FAME on October 16-19, in celebration of Design Week Philippines.

With the theme “Design for Life,” this October’s Design Talks will focus on the role of design in improving lives through its “presence” in edifices, products and services. It will give Filipino design practitioners the rare opportunity to learn from design luminaries who have made their mark in the world of design.

The Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM), organizer of the bi-annual design and lifestyle event Manila FAME, has invited Japanese industrial designer Motomi Kawakami and Italian sustainable textiles expert Giusy Bettoni to headline Design Talks, along with a power lineup of design experts from here and abroad.

Motomi Kawakami serves as the chairman of the Japan Institute of Design Promotion (JDP) and is regarded as one of Japan’s top industrial designers. Specializing in product, interior, space, and environmental design, he has been awarded the Japan Interior Designers’ Association Award, the first prize in the Open International Chair Design Competition of the American Institute of Architects, the Good Design Award’s Gold Prize, the Gold Prize in the 14th Milan Triennale, among many others.

Giusy Bettoni co-founded C.L.A.S.S. (Creativity, Lifestyle, and Sustainable Synergies), a library of sustainable textiles which offers consulting services for fashion and design and can be found in Milan, London, Helsinki, and Madrid. She is an expert in marketing sustainable textiles, having worked in the textile industry for 30 years.

“CITEM is truly honored to have these leaders in the international and local design industry to grace Design Talks this October. We are certain that those who will attend Design Talks will learn a lot from our invited speakers. We hope to continually contribute to a thriving creative ecosystem in the Philippines,” said Rosvi Gaetos, executive director of CITEM.

Foreign speakers who will join Kawakami and Bettoni in Design Talks are Cebu-based Costa Rican furniture designer Bernardo Urbina, founder of Tacloban Prevails (a furniture line that transforms debris left by Typhoon Haiyan and gives them new life); New York-based luxury retail business expert Joseph Boitano, top Taiwanese architect Johnny Chiu, and Colvin English, co-founder of ByHand Consulting (which has worked in over 60 countries around the world to overcome issues faced by artisan enterprises in the global marketplace).

Local speakers include National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) chairman Felipe de Leon, Jr.; Oliver Segovia, co-founder and CEO of AVA.ph (a curated online boutique for premium brands and experiences); digital marketing expert Donald Lim of ABS CBN; Aisa Mijeno, co-founder of SALt or Sustainable Alternative Lighting (an ecologically designed lamp powered by salt and water); Joshua de le Llana, head of Tactiles (a simple and integrated learning tool that encourages interest in electronics engineering among young people); Jen Horn, designer and founder of the shoe brand Tala Luna which promotes traditional weaves from around the country; lifestyle blogger Alessandra Lanot of LifeAfterBreakfast; sustainable design advocate and architect Liza Crespo; architect Emmanuel Miñana of the famed “Neo-Bahay-na-Bato” (shortlisted for the 2014 awards of the World Architecture Festival in Singapore); and Carl Mamawal, co-founder of Nyfti Bicycles (a convenient folding bicycle that encourages alternative means of transportation).

Design Talks is regarded as a potent platform to gain insights and inspiration from the knowledge and experiences of design icons from here and abroad. It is the banner event of Design Week Philippines, a multi-faceted platform that brings together creative industry practitioners from diverse backgrounds and disciplines in a series of programs and events that celebrate design and artistry.

Positioning the Philippines as Asia’s design destination, Design Week Philippines has become a national agenda that nurtures the creativity and design capability of the Filipinos to usher in trade opportunities. Proclamation No. 277, signed by President Benigno S. Aquino on October 20, 2011, declares the third week of March and October of each year as Design Week Philippines.

Aside from Design Talks, the DWP schedule of events include: The Katha Awards (Philippine design excellence awards), Creative Environment (local creative communities and urban development initiatives), Design Tours (special tours around Metro Manila’s design destinations), and “Creative Placemaking: Narratives from the Edge” (special art installations by DWP partners at the Manila FAME).