Photos by Daemon Becker and AT Maculangan

ICONOCLAST and visionary Helena Carratala (the Spanish fashion designer formerly known as Helena Guerrero) is out to make waves again, like she did in the ?70s and early ?80s. She has taken out a 50-year lease on Mangenguey island (the name means ?thunderous sound of the waves?) in Culion, off Palawan, to turn it into an artist?s colony.

Helena said it?s her destiny to swim against the current.

?I have proven everyone wrong since the day I was born. Most people thought I was crazy. If I had listened to them, I would not have done anything.?

At the height of her popularity in Manila, Helena lit up the social scene with her theatrical theme parties and her outrageous fashion sense that was striking yet never caricaturish. Fashion-forward?it was as if the term had been coined for her.

Today, at 57, she is still attractive, wearing an all-black sheath that highlights her round, rosette-colored face and sharp Castillian features, framed by a gob of salt-and-pepper curls.

She attributes her sensibilities to her family. Her father, a professor and internationalist, shaped her global outlook. Her mother, a home maker, exposed her to the arts, craft and beauty.

Being traditionalists, they hoped she would be in the academe and lead a conventional family life. Then she met Filipino artist-photographer Xavier ?Wahoo? Guerrero in Barcelona, who swept her off her feet as a teen bride, brought her to exotic places and finally settled in Manila.

Fluent in French, she worked at Pierre Cardin?s Manila boutique, as translator and assistant to a then-unknown designer?Jean-Paul Gaultier.

Her own label

In the ?70s, with chutzpah and fecund imagination, she created her own label, Azabache, whose vibrant colors and fresh silhouettes ran contrary to the safe conventions of Manila fashion.

Azabache boutique was way ahead of even the international fashion scene, with its chic clothes and fashion accessories. (She was selling jewel-colored roman sandals even before they were the vogue, had retro fashions even before fashion went into retrospective mode.)

She then launched a black collection at SM, which according to Chinese belief was ominous, but turned out to be a surprise hit. (She used black way before it was the world?s uniform non-color.) As the brand was exported in the Asian region, Helena wanted to conquer the fashion capital of New York.

Naysayers warned her. By then, she had left her marriage and tried her luck in garments.

?I?m gifted with creative talent and great administration,? she said. ?I understand how to make money. I did well in 7th Avenue, but I hated every minute of it. I had my own business and worked for others. Helena is not made to be working for others.?

She added: ?I made one huge mistake. I could have kept a small operation like Norma Kamali and Betsy Johnson, and have little store in Soho. I went to the big department stores, and that?s what killed me.?

Helena carried her own label, Carratala, which was successful. However, with delayed payments from the stores and lack of financial backing, she quit.

Awakening

The frustration coincided with the death of three designer-friends from AIDS.

?It was an awakening. When young people die, one has to think about how you want to live your life,? she said.

With her culinary skills and talent for interior design and entertainment, she put up a tapas bar and restaurant. She was married to Richard Mander, a general contractor for prestigious projects in New York. Despite the success, Helena and Richard eventually grew weary of the rat race in New York.

?In the US, whatever you do, the concept is that you kill yourself for money because you need a lot to do anything,? she said. ?In the end, you may get what you want, but you have no life.?

In 2004, Helena returned to the Philippines to visit her daughter, artist Katya Guerrero, and her son-in-law, photographer At Maculangan, who were first-time parents to Anika. After 20 years of being away, Helena was surprised that her friendships were still intact and that even the Gen X and Y expressed their admiration for her Azabache.

She realized that she was very attached to the Philippines and noted that it had the laidback lifestyle she and her husband were looking for. In the next two years, she explored Palawan and returned to the Calamnianes islands where she discovered Mangenguey.

13-hectare island

The challenge began with the tedious process of acquiring a 50-year lease from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. One of its requirements was producing a book on the island?s flora and fauna.

The 13-hectare island was unpopulated but the reefs were endangered because of the dynamite fishing. With no government support to preserve the island?s beauty, Helena took it upon herself to be ?steward? of the island.

For the past three years, she has been building her dream and bringing workers and supplies from all over the country, and setting up the water and energy systems. She insists on calling the artists? colony by the island?s name, ?Mangenguey.?

?Like Azabache (which means ?jet black?), people said no one would remember Mangenguey,? says Helena. But visitors will surely not forget how Helena expresses her idiosyncracies through design.

The initial stage of the development is the luxury resort, which is now open for bookings. It has a tropical house with two suites and three cottages by the beach, which can accommodate 12 guests. The design is a fusion of Asian styles with Old World and modern influences.

?The idea is Mangenguey is a resort and also an art and culture community where we can have theaters, performance spaces, a library, working studios and movie screens,? she said. ?It will be a place where people commune with other people and hopefully share the philosophic lifestyle.?

Mangenguey used simple materials?recycled wood, concrete, bamboo, nipa, anahaw, broken bricks, shells and local stones?which didn?t leave much carbon footprint.

Helena designed most of the lighting and furniture, which were crafted in Baguio, Cavite and Manila. They were mixed with antiques and restored pieces. Most of the artworks are original, many of which are fashion illustrations by the world-class artist Maning Obregon.

?The idea is to show that true luxury is design, not how much money or Italian marble you can pour,? she said. ?Home and furniture designed by an artist is unique.?

Helena imported the craftsmen for the decorative finish. ?We brought architects, woodworkers, bamboo workers, masons, electricians?from Ilocos or as far as Mindanao,? she said. ?The only thing the islanders know is fishing. Every craftsman that came in took an apprentice from the island. In a few years, the locals can make tables. Same with hotel and restaurant, they have to teach. As we build Mangenguey, we are like a school, training the native population to develop skills.?

The house has solar paneling and solar water heating. Plans are afoot to build wind power for the islands.

Holistic

Guerrero said she does not want to call the development as ecological. ?Mangenguey has a holistic view,? she explained. ?Conservation to me is balance. We need to strike a balance between preserving the environment and the human spirit through the arts and the humanities. We cannot just save the tigers and not save the poets.?

But poets?and other grossly underpaid artists?don?t have the means to spend a weekend in Mangenguey.

?If the world were properly managed, there should not be any reason the poets can?t be financed,? she said. ?If the priorities of society were right and value the works of the poet or philosopher, funding should be provided for as with the tiger.?

Patrons and philanthropists would rather support anti-poverty programs than the arts.

?The world sees the arts as a singular item,? Guerrero said. ?I don?t. In the big machinery of the world, we need to work on poverty, of course. But the poor people also need to see beauty. It?s not just feeding the poor, you have to feed the body and the soul of the people.?

She said the Philippines is losing craftsmen. ?Ever since I left, many of the embroiderers, Marikina shoemakers and jewelers of Bulacan I had worked with are gone,? she said. ?Why? Because the artists are not fulfilled. If art and design don?t work, the crafts are lost. The hands that make them will disappear. In Mangenguey, we are creating products that are not commercial. If we are all doing our part of the deal, the fisherman will not put cyanide on my reefs like they do because they don?t have any other way of feeding their family. That is where Mangenguey has a wider scope.?

?We are like this today because the intelligentsia has been sleeping for a long time and have allowed the merchants to take over the world,? Guerrero said.

She said the development of the island would involve ?a lot of money. My husband and I took a large chunk from our retirement to fund the initial stage. Now we are looking for investors.?

Investment

What?s in it for investors?

Guerrero said the development will have 86 residences, 46 cottages for guests, a public area and restaurants.

?You may want to buy shares of stocks of Mangenguey,? she said. ?It?s like an investment. The difference is social capitalism. The investors I want are people who not only get the return but also want to contribute to a better world. This isn?t just about money.?

The past three years, Helena has been staying in a shack on the island, which has become a sanctuary. In her diary, she writes, ?I hear the silence and see myself.?

(For details, contact 0920-954-4457 or 0917-8151313. Visit the website www.mangenguey.com and you?ll hear the sound of the waves and seagulls.)