Cobonpue Encounter

While we were in Cebu, our team got hooked up to meet and chat with Kenneth Cobonpue. Kenneth Cobonpue is a Cebu-based designer. He designs mostly furniture in a special hand crafted way. His designs are scattered all around the globe, some are seen in various movies and music videos like "Never wanna leave this bed" by Maroon 5, Ocean's 11, etc. not to mention his elite clientèle; I'm sure he has Brad Pitt on speed dial!

We went to his showroom and while waiting for him, we looked at some of his pieces. We were in awe of his brilliance.

Yna on Yoda: Yna, sitting on one of his best-sellers , the"Yoda" chair

Cholo marvelling at the lamps made of paper

We just love this piece!

Finally, he showed himself. His aura was super nice, not a hint of arrogance. We sat at one of his dining tables (that he designed) and started asking questions and he was very accommodating in enlightening us. We actually have a video of our chat with him but it's such a shame that's it's in the quality of crap hence you won't be able to understand. Our chat with him covered a lot! He talked about his projects in Cebu, hindered airport project (thoughts about politics), design process, concepts, pricing, new rickshaw project, his showroom, his Pratt U. buddies, his show in Paris, a new store opening in Makati, his furniture, his company and most importantly, his advise for young designers like us. He also told us that Architecture is the best training for Design =)

"You have to love what you do, all of these is because I love what I do." 

-Kenneth Cobonpue

Peace and Love,

Cholo and Yna

How We Roll In Cebu!

Our Design class this term had us tripping to Cebu since the site of our awesome design team was there. Visiting the site of a project and doing an ocular inspection is essential in the design process.

For our first night in Cebu, we stayed at Lei's penthouse.

If you're staying with Lei, a house is never a home without these. =)

Our first day was dedicated to work work work so we're not gonna bore you with stories of how we got plans, data, charts, population growth etc. so let's fast forward to the interesting stuff shall we? like the food. Oh my ghad the food was incredible in Cebu! We ate at this restaurant called Laguna 2 times. Apparently it's one of the sought after restaurants in Cebu and boy, it didn't fail to satisfy us!  

Then dessert at this chocolate themed restaurant named Chocolatier (not sure about the name though). The dishes we ordered tasted and looked oh so delicious!

On our way to our respective sites, we saw some buildings that sparked the architecture geek within us. One of them was this.

Then night came. Since Lei's place was where all the hip bars were at, we took it as a sign to go out and have some fun even though we were armed with Lei's "essentials" back at her penthouse. First, we went to Z bar which was designed by Kenneth Cobonpue. It was breathtaking! 

 This is how Yna looks like when you spot her in a club or bar, so unapproachably fierce!.... 

......and Cholo's more of the mysterious pretty boy you can't get your eyes off of type (haha!).

We went bar hopping, after Z, we went to distillery and loft then decided to call it a "night."

Second day, we stayed at Shang-Rila, Mactan but before that Yna, being the harlot that she is, went boy-hunting and spotted some.

The girls invaded the boys' room and since dinner was a few hours away, we killed time by camera-whoring!

 Dinner with the crew. (L-R) Cholo, Max, Earl, Lei and Yna.

Then we chilled by the beach.

 Midnight beer buddies: Lei and Cholo

 Another night has passed and the next thing we knew, we were having breakfast!

Spent the last hours at Shang with a good game of beach volleyball!

Airport bound! We lounged at Tinder box designed by Ed Calma and furniture by Kenneth Cobonpue.

Best part about this trip: We hardly spent a thing! We hope this post inspires you to go out, have fun, meet new people and gain connections. It's not always about schoolwork schoolwork schoolwork; a fact of life. But don't get us wrong, schoolwork is just as important!

Watch out for our next post with a certain world famous designer. =)

Peace and Love,

Cholo and Yna