Kenneth Cobonpue: Beyond Brad Pitt
Pratt-trained designer Kenneth Cobonpue combines industrial design savvy with exquisite Filipino craftsmanship, local traditional techniques and indigenous materials, to produce cutting-edge designs.
One of his main contributions was to translate the Filipino spatial concept of airiness and transparency into a contemporary and global lexicon. His groundbreaking design, the Yin and Yang armchair, was the first skeletal steel frame structure, wrapped with rattan wicker, created in 1998.
"I test the furniture myself. There's never a compromise. First, they've got to be comfortable and ergonomic. Design comes second", he declares.
In 2005, Cobonpue received the most prestigious Design For Asia Award for the Lolah chair, the only Filipino product among the selections.
The Voyage bed, made of buri (plam) and metal, evocative of a boat, became a high-profile product when the press reported that Brad Pitt acquired it for Shiloh, his daughter with Angelina Jolie. Cobonpue recalls that Pitt wass still married to Jennifer Aniston when he acquired other styles such as the Corissant sofa, admired for its fine, transparent, crescent shape and use of coconut leaf cores.
Lately, his furniture has been mor curvilinear, with the use of Italian techno fabrics wrapped over the frames.
The Cebu-based designer says the core of his design is material and structure, where every element has a purpose.
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