MOVEMENT 8, the world-renowned group of Filipino designers that transform native materials into cutting-edge artworks, turns 10 this year.

Since their launch at the Valencia Furniture Fair in 1999, the designers have been enjoying world acclaim for their innovations. Their works are seen in top international publications and fabulous homes, and have won international awards, among them at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York City.

It?s been a few years since the members of Movement 8 had a collective project, after the death of its founder, then Citem executive director Araceli ?Eli? Pinto-Mansor.

On September14, Movement 8 mounts an integrated design show at the Serendra Sales Pavilion at Bonifacio Global City. The event is produced by the Philippine Daily Inquirer Lifestyle and Cocoon home magazine, with Ayala Premier, Alveo, Serendra 1 and 2, Samsung and HSBC.

Chef Gilbert Pangilinan of Kai Restaurant and Nobu fame is designing the food to be served at the invitational opening. Also supporting the event is Wine Depot.

What Movement 8 members will design this time, and how they will design the space of the Sales Pavilion, will be something to look forward to.

After the September 14 opening, the exhibit will be open to the public for two weeks, particularly to design, architecture and art schools.

Movement 8 members are Budji Layug, Kenneth Cobonpue, Tes Pasola, Milo Naval, Ann Pamintuan, Tony Gonzales and Luisa Robinson.

Budji Layug: From designing bamboo to designing space

In the ?70s, bamboo was considered ?poor man?s wood? in the Philippines. Antonio ?Budji? Layug broke barriers when he designed a bamboo furniture collection that evoked tropical chic. His fascination then with the nipa hut and the possibilities of enhancing its design elements inspired him to produce his landmark Giant Bamboo Collection.

He became the first Filipino to display his collection in foremost department stores such as Bloomingdale?s, Lord & Taylor and Harrod?s, and to establish operations in the US.

His designs are in such luxury resorts as Four Seasons, Fairmont and Hotel Delano. His furniture finishes feature the various cores, nodes and textures of bamboo ? but interpreted in clean, understated, elegant lines.

Layug?s style became synonymous with sophisticated tropical look ? sleek furniture made from natural materials combined with lustrous upholstery, set amid well-appointed interiors.

Aside from pioneering the wave-inspired tropical furniture, he also introduced the concept of bringing outdoor bamboo and rattan furniture inside the home.

Aside from leading the use of renewable materials such as bamboo and rattan, Layug was also the first to incorporate leather binding and weaving with indigenous materials and incorporating coco wood and shell.

In time, Layug was looking not only at furniture or design elements, he was also designing space. Space planning became a natural outcome of his design.

Collaborating with architect Royal Pineda, Layug has been conceptualizing residences and offices and planning how furniture and other elements relate to the space. Subsequently, his furniture has become more graceful and sleeker as they have been scaled down for residential living.

Not known to many but a few friends, Layug, a Fine Arts student before he explored the world, has been painting abstractions for years now.

On his evolution, Layug says he?s moving towards symbiosis of furniture and space and how the surrounding architecture blends with total design.

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.

Boxy, it was light, airy, sturdy and comfortable. The wide mesh metal skeleton covered in earthy textures of rattan, palms, sea grass, bamboo and abaca became his trademark. The viewer could see through the furniture. It not only became his trademark, it was also picked up by other designers worldwide.

?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.

Unlike his earlier sleek geometry, Cobonpue?s furniture became biomorphic. The Lolah?s subtle curving seat was inspired by the iconic Coke bottle. It?s made from rattan poles and strips joined by glue, nails and nylon wire, using the traditional method for boat building.

?The other winners were high-tech. The Lolah chair was cited for its form and economy of materials. It?s low-tech, and no machines were used to make it,? he recalls.

The Voyage bed, made of buri 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. ?Sleep is a voyage to a world of dreams,? explains Cobonpue, thus, the shape. That concept, too, was picked up by other designers.

Cobonpue recalls that Pitt was still married to Jennifer Aniston when he acquired other styles such as the Croissant sofa, admired for its fine, transparent, crescent shape and use of coconut leaf cores.

Cobonpue can make playful designs such as the Yoda chair, the backrest of which looks like a bundle of reeds, but with the seat low and curvy.

Lately, his furniture has been more curvilinear, with the use of Italian techno fabrics wrapped over the frames. The Harry seater is a humorous take on fringes and shagpiles. Others echo the patterns and textures of nature, such as the Leaf and Bud chairs.

Young at 40, Cobonpue has become an international name. His works are placed alongside those of modern icons such as Italian architect-designer Rodolfo Dordoni.

The Cebu-based designer says the core of his design is material and structure, where every element has a purpose.

Ann Pamintuan: Her wires now a classic

After taking up a course in Electro-plating, Maria Antonietta ?Ann? Tiukinhoy Pamintuan started making jewelry not from stones, but from vines, roots, flowers and petals. Westerners were awed by how she transformed these organic and ephemeral materials into lasting objects of beauty just by welding.

Pamintuan popularized the capsule concept in furniture with her Cocoon chair, now considered by furniture aficionados as a modern classic. It was made from a sheath of wires, inspired by the gilded orchid bangle.

She received awards for her oxygen or bubble patterns, the laso or flat-ribbon weaving designs, and her metal spits, the imperfections of which become design elements.

Her furniture pieces are a mass of fine metal strands, interwoven in twists and turns. They become a fretwork of grids, intermeshed lattice and pulsating lines.

Her mirror frame, which combines the net frame of the Cocoon, the loose and tight interweaving metal, the flat ribbon, the undulating lines and the bubbles, serves as her portfolio and best seller.

For the exhibit, Pamintuan will produce a compressed aluminum chair made from welded metal. Its beauty lies in its texture and sculpture quality. ?It will make a great accent chair,? she says.

On Movement 8?s role, she explains: ?The purpose was to propel the Philippines into becoming a design leader in Asia. We have shown how we manipulate natural materials. My metal is raw. It also expresses my personality. I just want to create something extraordinary from the ordinary. Take GI wire and the way I weld it. It?s an inexpensive material that is hand-welded. When you put all the elements together, it results in something that has never been done.?

Tony Gonzales: His chairs you can practically inhabit

Anthony ?Tony? Gonzales has become known for innovating handmade paper in the ?90s, and experimenting with abaca and salago, the best fibers in the world. As a graphic designer, he has been making collages for international calendar competitions.

His involvement in Movement 8 challenged him into furniture design. He has won accolades for creating capsules that evoke a feeling of comfort and protection in his Genie and Melon chairs. The Melon chair takes the shape of the opened fruit.

The Genie chair won the Good Design Award from the Japan Industrial Design Promotion Organization. Made from abaca fibers and PVC with a metal framework, it is an overscaled capsule, topped with playful little spires, which one can practically inhabit. Ditto the Genie chair with its hollow enclave.

?The concept was to make a home within a home or space within a space. It?s not a four-legged chair but a space you can get in,? he explains.

On the difference between his Genie and Melon and Ann Pamintuan?s Cocoon chair, he says his concept is about confinement and cohabitation, while Pamintuan?s chair is more open. ?You confine yourself in the Genie and Melon Chair. You can lie down inside. Two people can get inside the Melon chair because there?s a hole on the other side. You can interact.?

As consultant for the Center for International Trade and Exposition Missions (Citem), he guides companies on product experimentation and shares his expertise.

?The Philippines is famous for design and product manipulation. The way we have turned shell or coconut twigs into products has been one of our contributions,? he says.

On his evolution, Gonzales says: ?I don?t like to design anything. It?s passé for me. I?m more conceptual.?

Milo Naval: Famous for rigid lines and checkerboard weaving

Interior and furniture designer Milo Naval started out with award-winning accessories such as the Hurricane lamp made from cowrie shells. His signature pieces were characterized by straightforward weaving using natural materials, and eventually the now-famous checkerboard weaving.

For export, he uses handwoven fabrics such as abaca and raffia, and water hyacinths for furniture, characterized by smooth, clean lines that lend a geometric quality. The simplicity of Naval?s lines brings out the organic beauty of his materials.

Naval showed his playful side in a recent exhibit when he created a collection recycled from old newspapers, bottle caps, twigs, cartons, rubber tires and old bottles. Chairs and side tables made from corrugated boards, bottle caps and tires were snapped up.

He is working on a vegetal collection to be shown at the Inquirer Lifestyle and Cocoon exhibit.

?From the time we did the Valencia show to this day, we?re still producing handmade items. It?s not that we?re not doing new things. But the handmade aspect reflects the quality of our work,? says Naval.

Luisa Robinson: Using organic materials with calculated precision

Designer Luisa de los Santos Robinson made her mark producing trays, boxes and vases made of laminated coco shells, twigs, leather and local snakeskin. Her accessories are characterized by organic shapes interpreted with unnerving assurance.

Four-ft-tall vases in amorphic shapes, made of unusual materials such as snakeskin, are veritable works of art.

?You wouldn?t think of putting flowers in them as you would in a vase. Even if you don?t put flowers, they can stand by themselves,? she says.

Although her lines are contemporary, she uses elements that make them look exotic. She favors local mahogany, gemelina or rosewood and walnut veneers for framework.

The finishes can be as shiny as lacquer, or have an antique patina. Her designs are marked by lightness and finesse.

?The materials I put in lend sophistication,? she says. Among her striking pieces are a curved back chair with cowhide and a table with faux elephant tusks (made from resin) with stainless steel rings.

Robinson also uses Indian turnsole, a sun-loving plant, for drawer fronts and armoires, and stones in polished sandblasted finishes for accent tables or tabletops.

For the September 14 exhibit, Robinson creates a chandelier version of her Dragon Lamp made from folded paper, which has been featured in European publications.

Tes Pasola: Paper is art

She straddles the worlds of art and design and has been receiving accolades in both. Before her involvement with Movement 8, Teresita ?Tes? Pasola was producing cutesy gift items.

Her work with M8 inspired her to venture into collages that were either hand-molded or cut and sieved into sheets. She experimented with handmade paper infused with ferns, leaves, shells, wires and seeds. The paper was also transformed into nature shapes.

Subsequently, she developed her signature James Bound Collection which earned her the Good Design Award from the Japan Industrial Design Promotion Organization. Products such as lamps and vases came out like books with pages flipped to give the objects volume and texture. They were made from die-cut sheets of organic paper that were bounded.

Both ends were affixed to a hole where a removable metal vessel can hold the flowers. ?This was more serious decor,? she says.

As an artist, she did a solo exhibit in Melbourne, Australia, where she was lauded for her experiments in paper, as art installations and abstract sculptures that were astonishing in shapes, texture and volume.

As in her commercial work, she uses paper craft and recyclable materials for decor pieces. In one of the Manila F.A.M.E. International fairs, she fashioned old newspapers into donuts and placed them around tall circular tubes. More than an allusion to paper as a product of trees, and the need to save the forest, Pasola wanted to make a statement on how trash can be made into art.

?I use paper not because it is competitive, but because I feel strongly about caring for the environment,? says Pasola.