Its time someone did something about the worst airport in the world. So we made this design because we believe that no matter how beautiful our country is, our airports give the first and last impressions. This plan is relatively inexpensive and simple to adapt. The plan also involves renovating the interiors to allow faster flow of travelers between security, immigration and departure.

The first step has been done. Lets hope our government moves on this proposal quickly.

AWARDS:

• Microsoft Special Award for Most Dynamic Entrepreneur 2007
  • Manila Peninsula | Nov 6, 2007

• Entrepreneur Magazine’s 10 Most Outstanding Entrepreneurs 2007
  • Manila Peninsula | Nov 6, 2007

• 13 Mugna Design Prizes for Exhibition and Product Design 2007
  • Best Indoor Furniture | Noodle Collection

• Ten Most Outstanding Alumni
  • Given on the 50th year of the founding of Sacred Heart School for Boys | Cebu City, Philippines

• 5 Katha Design Awards for Product Design
  • Philippine Furniture Industries Foundation | Manila, Philippines

• 13 Mugna Design Prizes for Exhibition and Product Design
  • Cebu International Furniture & Furnishings Exhibition | Cebu City, Philippines

• Outstanding Design Prize
  • Balou Outdoor | 2005 High Point Show, North Carolina, USA

• Design Excellence Award
  • Best Seating for Lolah outdoor
  • Best Chair for Dimple outdoor
  • 9th Annual IIDA/Hospitality Design Product Competition | May 5, 2005, USA

• Design for Asia Award 2005
  • Lolah Collection | Business of Design Week by the Hongkong Design Centre | Nov 21, 2005, Hongkong

• First Prize, Open Design Category
  • Croissant Collection | Singapore International Furniture Design Competition 2004 | Singapore

• Awardee, Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Philippines 2004

• Good Design Award 2004 – ASEAN Design Collection
  • Pigalle Easy Arm Chair, Kabuki Cabinet, One Night Stand Sofa | C-U C-ME Screen Japan Industrial Design Promotion Organization | Tokyo, Japan

• Good Design Award 2003 ASEAN Design Collection
  • Voyage Bed and Yin & Yang Easy Arm Chair | Japan Industrial Design Promotion Organization Tokyo, Japan

• 2004 Perlas Award for Outstanding Cebuano
  • Presidential Citation for Embodying Ideals of Asian Design
  • Given by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo | November 29, 2002, Malacanang Palace, Philippines

• Craftsmanship Award
  • International Contemporary Furniture Fair 2001
  • New York, USA

• Presidential Citation for Embodying Ideals of Asian Design
  • Given by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
  • November 29, 2002, Malacanang Palace, Philippines

• Good Design Award 2003 – ASEAN Design Collection
  • Voyage Bed and Yin & Yang Easy Arm Chair – Japan Industrial Design Promotion Organization – Tokyo, Japan

• Good Design Award 2004 – ASEAN Design Collection
  • Pigalle Easy Arm Chair, Kabuki Cabinet, One Night Stand Sofa
  • C-U C-ME Screen – Japan Industrial Design Promotion Organization | Tokyo, Japan

• First Prize, Open Design Category – Croissant Collection
  • Singapore International Furniture Design Competition 2004, Singapore

• Design for Asia Award 2005 – Lolah Collection
  • Business of Design Week by the Hongkong Design Centre – Nov 21, 2005, Hongkong

• Design Excellence Award – Best Seating for Lolah outdoor
• Design Excellence Award – Best Chair for Dimple outdoor
  • 9th Annual IIDA/Hospitality Design Product Competition | May 5, 2005, USA

A designer who started his career in Manila in the late 90s, Oliver Tolentino became the first ever Philippines-based fashion designer to expand into the United States when, in 2009, he opened a Los Angeles boutique.

Prior to opening his U.S. shop, Oliver already had secured a place in his native country by designing gowns for the elite, including socialites, celebrities, and government officials at the highest levels. He created the gown for former First Lady Imelda Marcos for her 80th birthday celebration in 2009. Because of his intricate, hand-made, time-consuming couture, Oliver often has been dubbed “the Valentino of the Philippines”.

Within 4 months of the L.A. opening, Oliver was one of a handful of designers who were invited by Downtown Los Angeles Fashion Week (DLAFW) to preview a Spring-Summer 2010 collection at the prestigious Geffen Contemporary at MOCA. On October 15, immediately preceding the week’s finale, a vintage Valentino collection, Oliver presented a 40 piece collection comprised mostly of eco-friendly fabrics, including his native piña (pineapple fiber).

His couture collection and backstage interviews were featured in many media, including nationally on E! (The Entertainment Channel) and on his native TFC channel. Many write-ups lauded the couture show as the closest thing to New York with one noting Oliver was one of the “stand-outs.”

Over the past 5 years, Oliver has created dramatic gowns for the Philippines’ biggest concert stars, including the four “divas” of the Philippines (Kuh Ledesma, Regine Velasquez, Zsa Zsa Padilla, and Pops Fernandez), for their “Divas4Divas” 2008-2009 U.S. tour. Oliver also has dressed Filipina songbird Lani Misalucha for many of her concerts and is currently dressing her for her running show at the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas.

Since opening his Melrose boutique, Oliver has dressed Arnel Pineda (lead singer of Journey) and Anna Maria Perez de Tagle (actress in “Camp Rock” and “Fame”). Arnel wore Oliver’s clothes on CBS’s “The Early Show,” and Anna Maria was photographed in Oliver’s gown on the red carpet at the VH1 Divas show in 2009.

Oliver has attracted not only the attention of Manila’s fashionable set, but also America’s. He designed a dress for the wife of rocker Joe Walsh of the legendary Eagles who was photographed wearing it on the red carpet to a Grammys event in Los Angeles.

Jay Sario, 31, is the first Philippine-born designer to ever make it to the show. Sario said representing Filipinos was his goal when he auditioned for Season 7 of the popular reality show.

“I’m proud to be able to represent and be part of history. I am history!” Sario said.

Sario was born and raised in Laoag, Ilocos Norte. He and his family moved to the US when he was 17.

He developed his design skills at the Honolulu Community College and the Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles.

Sario said when he found out he made it to Project Runway, he was more than ready.

“The very first time I saw all 15 other designers I said to myself, ‘This is it! Bring it on!’” he said.

On the second episode, Sario won over other contestants when he created a little black dress out of burlap — a fabric used as potato sacks.

“They’re just amazed about the fact that I made burlap look like feathers and that kind of sold it,” he said.

Sario gives his impression of Project Runway’s host, supermodel Heidi Klum.

“She’s just gorgeous. She doesn’t have to do so much to look good,” he said.

As for the contestants’ mentor, fashion consultant Tim Gunn, Sario said, “I adore him. I respect his feedback.”

He likewise revealed his favorite judges in the show. “I have to say I’m torn between Nina [Garcia] and Michael Kors.”

Sario added the show pushed him to acquire new skills.

“To be able to see myself grow from the day I tried out for the show, and now…it’s insane,” said the Pinoy designer.

Whether he wins the coveted Project Runway title or not, Sario says he knows he will make it big as a designer.

“I need to find ways to accomplish this dream of mine. This is what I want to do.  This is my calling,” said Sario, who plans to launch his own line both in the US and the Philippines.

Source

There we were, Elton Lugay (Philippine News branch manager for the East Coast) and I, finding ourselves drenched and thrust into a New York moment called Fashion Week – on a rainy Sept. 11 morning.

It’s that time of the year when designers converge on a makeshift tent on Bryant Park on Fifth Ave., to unveil their latest collections, and with celebrity clients rooting for them. The designers are a mixed bag of style icons (Diane von Furstenberg, Carolina Herrera, Bill Blass) and up-and-coming trendsetting talents, sometimes straight out of fashion schools.

Cebu-born Monique Lhuillier, whose gowns have draped Hollywood’s hottest stars (Angelina Jolie, Sarah Jessica Parker, Debra Messing, Britney Spears, and Lea Salonga, to name a few), is somewhere in between. She has been around six years as a Hollywood stylist, but her designs remain fresh and continue to excite fashion editors, merchandisers and the celebrities who proudly proclaim Monique’s name on the red carpet. He biggest coup was designing Britney Spears’ 2004 wedding gown.

In Fashion Week, she showcased her Spring collection of ready-to-wear formals and cocktail dresses, a collection characterized by ruffles, bows, pleats in soft fabric and candy colors of vanilla, mint, pistachio and butterscotch.

“This season is about embracing your femininity,” she said, adding further how her clothes accentuate women’s curves, while giving the illusion of length. To further dramatize the feminine aspect, there is a lot of draping and embroidery on her designs.

“I saw the color palette flash before my eyes while enjoying a box of my favorite Laduree macaroons,” she explained her choice of delectable colors.

In the audience was Grammy awardee country singer LeAnn Rimes escorted by her husband.

The photographers took their time snapping photos of the couple who gamely obliged. When the lights began to flash and the loud music came on, 20 naif-looking models burst on the ramp parading Monique’s clothes in comfort and confidence.

Real people would find many of Monique’s cocktail dresses reasonably wearable. There is a lot of layering using soft material such as tulle, organza, silk chiffon, etc. and the skirt billows at the hem. It’s not the kind of style that one would wear and feel confined while in it. The style is sexy as it is playful.

Monique comes from a Cebuano family known for their industriousness and style. Her family owns a successful pawnshop chain in the Philippines, her mother a prominent society A-lister.

She went to a boarding school in Switzerland as a teenager and also studied fashion design there. Los Angeles became her home after college and ultimately her launching pad. She began designing eveningwear while working in a Paris couture shop in LA. While planning her wedding to investment banker Tom Bugbee, she found herself creating bridal designs. Her debut collection of bridalwear was well received by editors and merchandisers.

Although the USA Today faults her Fashion Week collection as “very tame,” many in the audience seemed to like Monique’s confectionery creations judging from the energetic applause to her ‘bow.’ Ditto for the model whose slightly unsteady steps became something of an icebreaker for those who can’t tell a taffeta from a tulle.