SATHU RESIDENCES, BANGKOK PHILIPPE STARCK KITCHENS

PHILIPPE STARCK KITCHENS
GAETANO PESCE DESIGNS | DE MAJO LIGHTING
FOCUS FIREPLACES | ANDY CAO LANDSCAPING
8 885007 530086
February - May 2012
SATHU RESIDENCES, BANGKOK
SANDY ISLAND, SINGAPORE | RIVERSHORES, FREMANTLE
MARINELLA, HONG KONG | ST MARY, KUALA LUMPUR
ST MORITZ PENTHOUSES, JAKARTA
SAIGON GOLF & COUNTRY CLUB
palaceSTYLE
KENNETH COBONPUE
by Dionne Bel
The
UNCONVENTIONAL
CR AFTSMAN
Modern furniture born from
indigenous South-east Asian
materials and motifs
ABOVE
Rapunzel, a plush easy
armchair made from handcoiled upholstered foam curves
supported by steel frames
LEFT
Cobonpue is primarily inspired by
nature, as evident in his design
of the Bloom chair, evocative
of a giant leaf in the jungle
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FROM LEFT
The Rhythmic Wave dining table
is made of hand-finished walnut
and mahogany wood pieces
gracefully attached together
The Dragnet lounge chair comes
in black and red versions
“I love natural
materials
because they
have so much
character. When
you understand
these materials,
they do the work
for you”
Kenneth Cobonpue grew up
surrounded by craftsmen,
artists and weavers. His
mother was a renowned and innovative
furniture maker and the family home
on the island of Cebu in the Philippines
housed her atelier. As a child, he
accompanied her to trade fairs as far
apart as Paris and Tokyo. Amid this
creative atmosphere, it is little wonder
that Cobonpue soon developed his own
passion and talent for design.
After studying industrial design
at the Pratt Institute in New York, he
worked in Italy and Germany before
returning to Cebu in 1996 to run the
factory when his father died. He recalls:
“Back then, every furniture factory
in the Philippines was doing OEM
[original equipment manufacturing —
producing goods to be retailed under
the purchaser’s brand name] for
all the big American and European
brands. No one was really making
anything innovative.”
Cobonpue had other ideas. “I
wanted to make a difference in the
world of design from our island. So
I started to experiment with natural
materials and simple structures and
created a very skeletal and transparent
look that was very new at that time.
From this look, I developed the
collections you know today and moved
on to other methodologies and forms.”
His furniture pieces fit into
environments from beach resorts to
modern homes. He emphasises craftsmen’s skills by using locally sourced,
sustainable, natural materials and >>
Palace
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palaceSTYLE
FROM TOP
The Yoda easy chair provides back
support through the natural tension
of rattan
The Croissant armchair is made of
abaca rope tied by nylon wires over
a hand-sculpted light steel frame
This Manolo easy armchair is
inspired by a lady’s sandal and
is spun from stained rattan vines
bound with leather strips
RIGHT
With German designer Albrecht,
Cobonpue designed the world’s first
biodegrable roadster, Phoenix, using
renewable sources
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Palace
>> handmade production techniques
to create sophisticated, contemporary
designs. Materials include palms, sea
grasses, bamboo, abaca, rattan and
polyethylene fibre.
Cobonpue says: “I love natural
materials because they have so much
character. When you understand these
materials, they do the work for you.
I design things that can only be made
with a high level of craftsmanship by
hand. Because what I do is always
fresh and new, we have to develop new
production techniques, even to the
point of sometimes inventing
new materials.”
He has won numerous awards
and his designs have been featured
in several editions of the International
Design Yearbook and have also appeared
in films such as Ocean’s Thirteen.
“Design is fascinating because I
am inspired by everything. It’s never
predictable,” he says. The Voyage Bed is
shaped like a boat because he believes
sleep is a temporary voyage to a world of
dreams. The critically acclaimed Lolah
was inspired by a crushed Coke can,
and the Parchment table and wardrobe
collection resembles stacks of paper.
However, Cobonpue is inspired
primarily by nature and man’s affinity
with it. The whimsical Bloom chair,
composed of fine running stitches
radiating from the seat’s centre, is
evocative of a giant leaf in a South-east
Asian jungle. The Papillion lounge chair
and ottoman, with its massive spokes of
hand-woven nylon rope attached to the
powder-coated steel frame, is shaped
like a butterfly. His Pebble coffee tables,
constructed from thin, veneered metal
sheets, can be arranged like a series
of stepping stones in a riverbed. The
Dreamcatcher seat is named after the
Native American craftwork believed to
give its owner good dreams. The Yoda
side chair and barstool uses the natural
tension of rattan vines — which grow
out of it like tall field grass — to provide
good support for the back.
On a different track, Cobonpue
has created Phoenix, the world’s first
biodegradable roadster, in collaboration
with German designer Albrecht. Both
the exterior and interior have leaf-like
forms. The 153-inch, lightweight car
is made from bamboo, rattan, steel
and nylon. “The Phoenix challenges
convention by sourcing renewable
“Because what
I do is always
fresh and new, we
have to develop
new production
techniques even
to the point
of sometimes
inventing new
materials”
FROM TOP
For Cobonpue, even a crushed
Coke can has aesthetic potential.
It inspired the shape of his
renowned Lolah chair
The Ima bed is a sanctuary inspired
by ancient Oriental temples
materials from the earth and using
a frame that is built by hand using
very minimal tools and energy,” says
Cobonpue. The creation of an electric
tuk-tuk or tricycle with another
manufacturer is also in the pipeline.
His work is not without its
challenges. Availability of materials
and costs involved are the main
stumbling blocks. “My designs usually
involve new technology or material
that’s not fully out there yet. So we
have to work with manufacturers to
develop the material for us. That takes
time from the first sample to the final
test,” he says. Cobonpue’s first ever
exclusive showroom, due to open this
year, will allow the unconventional
craftsman’s designs to enjoy even
greater recognition.
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