Can Filipino design reputation be sustained?

here's an article last April 9th, 2007 from www.inquirer.net

Can Filipino design reputation be sustained?

MANILA, Philippines - Despite the growing international renown of Filipino designs, industrial design continues to befuddle Filipinos themselves. Filipinos know their nurses, doctors and teachers are in demand in other countries. But industrial designers?

Oftentimes mistaken for industrial engineering, or worse, commercial arts, industrial design is a discipline in the creative industries. It has two aspects. One is communications design, which covers exhibition and spatial design, graphics, environment, packaging and photography. The other is product design, which includes the design of tools, such as agricultural or medical equipment, as well as furniture, gifts, crafts, houseware, and what-have-you.

Unlike the one-of-a-kind works of fine art produced by painters and sculptors, the industrial designer's output is more on the practical side. They are for mass production and commercial distribution.

Philippine designs have made a stir in international trade fairs, and manufacturers have made inroads in American and European markets. In fact, many Philippine designs have been copied by other countries with cheaper labor.

The clamor for "export quality" products reinforces the need for Philippine industrial design to cope with the challenges posed by global competition.

For designer Kenneth Cobonpue, whose Lola chair won an Asian Design Award alongside designs by Nokia and Samsung last year, the innate designing skills of Filipinos may soon turn rusty because of the lack of appreciation for industrial design. He said the lack of appreciation is reflected in the paltry number of schools offering industrial design.

"We are still the perceived design leaders on our part of the world, but it's a title we need to defend more vigorously with each passing year," Cobonpue said.

"Our schools need to partner with the industry to know what's out there and what can be done."

Deeper problem

A deeper problem of the schools, according to Cobonpue, is lack of "qualified professors."

"The problem with the curriculum is that no one's there to teach the students," Cobonpue explained. "Most of industrial design faculty come from painting or advertising, which are different disciplines."

The University of Santo Tomas, which is the pioneer private school in industrial design, has nine professors in its Industrial Design program, the majority of them with Masters degrees. It also has a very comprehensive curriculum, said UST officials.

"UST's Industrial Design program covers the whole spectrum of subjects for creative design work and business strategies," said Violini Venturanza, UST Industrial Design department head.

"The program emphasizes before the students that the fusion of art and technology are essential components in bringing creative ideas into reality."

"And with seasoned faculty members, most of whom are international design consultants, students learn more than the know-how of industrial design, they also learn the on-hand experiences their professors had as industrial designers," Venturanza added.

The thrust of UST's Industrial Design education is teaching the design of consumer and industrial products that are responsive to domestic and global markets as well as environment needs, Venturanza said. The emphasis is on the use of available and indigenous resources and technologies.

Recently, UST Industrial Students showed their design ideas in the exhibit, "Le Industriel," at the main gallery of the UST Beato Angelico building. However nascent, the student designs showed the promise that the well-regarded name of Philippine design would be sustained in the future.