Interior Design: Tito Villanueva
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I've featured Tito Villanueva in UZ many times. Tito's work is so clean and "intelligent" - I can't think of a better word to describe his spaces. There are a lot of interior designers in this town who know how to put icing on the cake very well even if they don't know how to make good cake. What I'm trying to say is that Tito not only knows how to make spaces visually appealing (the icing), he also knows how to work with the given structure (the cake). His isn't just embellishment and decor. His spaces make sense. I think it has a lot to do with his knowledge of the classical style. One must know the basics of classical design before getting into different interior decorating themes.
He recently sent me an email with photos from his exhibit as the featured Interior Designer for the 1st Creative Industries Division of Citem Trade Fair 2009. He was given a limited area of 6 metres x 2.5 metres and a limited time of 28 hours to set up the display. Here's what he came up with:
Tito Villanueva's designed space at CITEM fair
The ceiling lights are masked with recycled plastic bottles. It was not an exhibit about green architecture or design. But Tito took it upon himself to come up with a strong statement on a small area. He says, "I wanted to share some possible recycling and contribution to the green movement so came the idea of doing my lighting fixture for the dining section using used water bottles. No experimentation was done but (only) in my mind."
Tito Villanueva: Many have asked how I got the idea, if I saw it in a magazine or anything like it. Truthfully no where have I seen it applied the way I did but in my very visual mindset. I was planning to do a floor lamp
application but because of space restrictions I thought it best to go upwards. It was actually the most asked component of my installation.
I'm sure by now you're as intrigued as I was when I first saw the photos. I asked Tito a few questions:
DOP: Where did you get the idea of using plastic bolles for lighting accessories?
TV: Just my creative mind working, saw a mound of empty bottles that seemed like crystal from a far, then I thought maybe I can use them inverted for a floor lamp then came the project exhibit for Citem so I just thought I’d use it as my ceiling lighting system without experimenting it. I taught my maid how to tie up those bottles on polycarbonate diffusers. Hush hush work at that time. Right after the exhibit, the show Top Design was shown and a designer used the same for an office setting she did but was confined to using only a few bottles unlike my tight grouping. I don’t claim the first to have the idea because during the Citem exhibit I saw a large floor lamp done by a furniture designer using the same but as one other designer said mine was professionally done.
DOP: Is it safe to use plastic bottles for lighting fixtures? Won't it melt?
TV: Oh it is not directly on the fluorescent lighting fixture but hanged on the diffuser so no heat.
DOP: Have you used this design in other projects? Or only in show-level for now?
TV: Used and applied it in my renovated condo building conference room and my own vestibule. The reason why I have not done outside is because my maid has been busy and her fingers are much smaller than mine to be tying those bottles with nylon.
DOP: What are your plans for this plastic bottle idea?
TV: Just using them for my projects, It’s quite fragile because these bottles empty they flatten easily and can get crushed by wrong handling. Difficult and time consuming my maid would not be doing anything else but tie the whole day if I asked her to do more. Hehehe She earns though.
Tito also applied the same idea to this actual conference room project:
Lighting fixture made of recycled plastic bottles
The plastic bottles are lined up to stretch the entire length of the room.
And it's not just for show. He used the same plastic bottles as lighting fixtures in his own vestibule:
His vestibule
Detail of plastic bottles as lighting in Tito's vestibule.
Great idea. Proof that re-using and recycling can be chic. Of course it would be a lot better if we just reduced or stopped using disposable plastic water bottles. Bring a thermos of water as baon instead.
And speaking of using bottles as construction/design elements. Have you seen my Indonesian architect friend's bottle house? More on that later.
Meanwhile I think Tito Villanueva deserves an award or something. His bottle lighting fixtures are great! Check out his site to see more of his work.
.
I've featured Tito Villanueva in UZ many times. Tito's work is so clean and "intelligent" - I can't think of a better word to describe his spaces. There are a lot of interior designers in this town who know how to put icing on the cake very well even if they don't know how to make good cake. What I'm trying to say is that Tito not only knows how to make spaces visually appealing (the icing), he also knows how to work with the given structure (the cake). His isn't just embellishment and decor. His spaces make sense. I think it has a lot to do with his knowledge of the classical style. One must know the basics of classical design before getting into different interior decorating themes.
He recently sent me an email with photos from his exhibit as the featured Interior Designer for the 1st Creative Industries Division of Citem Trade Fair 2009. He was given a limited area of 6 metres x 2.5 metres and a limited time of 28 hours to set up the display. Here's what he came up with:
Tito Villanueva's designed space at CITEM fair
The ceiling lights are masked with recycled plastic bottles. It was not an exhibit about green architecture or design. But Tito took it upon himself to come up with a strong statement on a small area. He says, "I wanted to share some possible recycling and contribution to the green movement so came the idea of doing my lighting fixture for the dining section using used water bottles. No experimentation was done but (only) in my mind."
Tito Villanueva: Many have asked how I got the idea, if I saw it in a magazine or anything like it. Truthfully no where have I seen it applied the way I did but in my very visual mindset. I was planning to do a floor lamp
application but because of space restrictions I thought it best to go upwards. It was actually the most asked component of my installation.
I'm sure by now you're as intrigued as I was when I first saw the photos. I asked Tito a few questions:
DOP: Where did you get the idea of using plastic bolles for lighting accessories?
TV: Just my creative mind working, saw a mound of empty bottles that seemed like crystal from a far, then I thought maybe I can use them inverted for a floor lamp then came the project exhibit for Citem so I just thought I’d use it as my ceiling lighting system without experimenting it. I taught my maid how to tie up those bottles on polycarbonate diffusers. Hush hush work at that time. Right after the exhibit, the show Top Design was shown and a designer used the same for an office setting she did but was confined to using only a few bottles unlike my tight grouping. I don’t claim the first to have the idea because during the Citem exhibit I saw a large floor lamp done by a furniture designer using the same but as one other designer said mine was professionally done.
DOP: Is it safe to use plastic bottles for lighting fixtures? Won't it melt?
TV: Oh it is not directly on the fluorescent lighting fixture but hanged on the diffuser so no heat.
DOP: Have you used this design in other projects? Or only in show-level for now?
TV: Used and applied it in my renovated condo building conference room and my own vestibule. The reason why I have not done outside is because my maid has been busy and her fingers are much smaller than mine to be tying those bottles with nylon.
DOP: What are your plans for this plastic bottle idea?
TV: Just using them for my projects, It’s quite fragile because these bottles empty they flatten easily and can get crushed by wrong handling. Difficult and time consuming my maid would not be doing anything else but tie the whole day if I asked her to do more. Hehehe She earns though.
Tito also applied the same idea to this actual conference room project:
Lighting fixture made of recycled plastic bottles
The plastic bottles are lined up to stretch the entire length of the room.
And it's not just for show. He used the same plastic bottles as lighting fixtures in his own vestibule:
His vestibule
Detail of plastic bottles as lighting in Tito's vestibule.
Great idea. Proof that re-using and recycling can be chic. Of course it would be a lot better if we just reduced or stopped using disposable plastic water bottles. Bring a thermos of water as baon instead.
And speaking of using bottles as construction/design elements. Have you seen my Indonesian architect friend's bottle house? More on that later.
Meanwhile I think Tito Villanueva deserves an award or something. His bottle lighting fixtures are great! Check out his site to see more of his work.
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