Rattan’s First Great Virtuoso

Virtuoso of the rattan renaissance by Go Negosyo Team

Pull up a chair – a rattan chair – and let’s talk about furniture and design.But if that rattan chair you’re sitting on is a Kenneth Cobonpue creation, we wouldn’t be talking; we’d be experiencing a truly virtuoso piece of art, a declaration that a chair is, sometimes not just a chair.

Kenneth Cobonpue is an acknowledged furniture design leader, his works acclaimed by international critics, design experts, journalists and industry leaders. He is multi-awarded and head of his own furniture manufacturing company.

Most of all, Cobonpue is a Filipino, a true-blue Cebuano to be exact.

Hollywood superstar Brad Pitt bought one of his masterpieces, then another, and then more, including a bed for son Maddox. Soon after, Warner Brothers asked him to furnish a casino set for the movie Ocean’s Thirteen, currently topping box office charts here and abroad.

Such breakthroughs got him into the pages of TIME Magazine, where he was called rattan’s “first great virtuoso.”

Cobonpue started his venture in the competitive world of design in 1987, when he studied Industrial Design at Pratt Institute in New York. While completing his degree, he apprenticed for a leather and wood workshop near Florence, Italy. He continued his training by studying Furniture Marketing and Production at the Export Akademie Baden-Wurttenberg in Germany under a private state scholarship program, and subsequently worked in Bielefeld and Munich.

After his overseas stint, Cobonpue returned to his homeland and put what he learned to work at Interior Crafts of the Islands, a furniture company established in 1972 by his mother Betty, a designer famous for creating new techniques in working with rattan.

“I joined my mother in Cebu in 1995 and we developed a new aesthetic, combining modern forms and silhouettes with natural materials and innovative weaves,” says the 37-year-old designer.Since then, Cobonpue has consistently wowed both local and international markets with remarkable works of art.

His designs are recognized all over the world: five Cobonpue designs have been presented with the Japan Good Design Award. In 2002, he won a Golden Shell Award, a citation given by President Arroyo for embodying the ideals of Asian design. Two years later, he bagged first prize at the Singapore International Design Competition for his Croissant sofa. “Each piece that our company produces is an exercise in structure, transparency and craftsmanship. And this is the look for which we are known today,” Cobonpue says, pointing out that he wants Filipino designs to be known and recognized.

For that, and for consistently advocating and exhibiting excellence, Cobonpue will be conferred by the Philippine Center of Entrepreneurship the award of “Most Inspiring Cebuano Entrepreneur” at the Go Negosyo Entrepreneurship Conference, the latest leg of the continuing Go Negosyo campaign spearheaded by Presidential Consultant for Entrepreneurship Jose Concepcion III, slated at the Cebu International Convention Center.

The Go Negosyo sa Cebu, which is co-chaired by Jay Aldeguer, owner of Island Souvenirs, is the first destination of the Go Negosyo Caravan, which brings Go Negosyo forums and expositions to key cities outside Metro Manila. In partnership with the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry through the support of CCCI president Francis Monera and Consul Sam Chioson, the Go Negosyo sa Cebu is part of the celebration of Cebu Business Month.

Cobonpue, a member of the acclaimed Movement 8, an alliance of Filipino designers who share the same spirit and aesthetic, continues to reveal new work each year in design shows from Paris to Shanghai, Frankfurt to New York. He also helped found the Designers Guild of the Philippines.

“I hope my work reminds others of this corner of the world and the beauty found in our people and culture,” Cobonpue said. (source: goodnewspilipinas)