By Alex Vergara
Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines–When Butch Nayona and Sylvia Bautista hired the services of architect Dante Aguirre to design their respective condo units sometime ago, the two accomplished singles had a number of requirements that were quite similar.

Nayona and Bautista have yet to meet each other, but like thousands of nameless, faceless executives based in Metro Manila, they work long hours in the office. Since both live alone most of the time, they have precious little time to spare fussing over minute details.

In short, they each wanted a practical and functional place to come home to at the end of a long, hard working day. Yet their tastes and personalities couldn’t have been more different.

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By Charles E. Buban
Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines–Consumers these days are increasingly yearning for a “feel-good” space in their homes — an area where they could not only nourish their body but also their soul. For them, such a place could only be their bathroom.

“The bathroom has indeed come a long way from being purely functional. It is now being viewed as a place of relaxation, and consumers are investing more time and money to create a place of seclusion and escape,” promised Steve Courso, GM of Dornbracht, manufacturer of high-quality bathroom fittings and accessories from Germany.

Dornbracht is among the high-end lines that recently become available in the Philippines through a globally acclaimed sanitation ware distributed by Hamburg International Sales Corp.

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By Eric S. Caruncho
Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines–Let’s face it, kitsch ’R’ us.

We might pay lip service to Bauhaus style, or minimalism, or the Miami style, or whatever new wrinkle in interior design happens to be trendy at the moment, but deep down, we’re all the same.

Face a Pinoy with a bare wall or an empty shelf and that old horror vacui just wells up inside him. And chances are, he’ll pick the cheesiest possible piece to put there.

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