Critic on Furniture (Bloom Chair by Kenneth Cobonpue)

By: Darryl I. Daitol

Introduction

In the Philippines, exporting products have helped the government as an

assistance and support to its economy. One of the products being exported are furnitures
made by great Filipino designers. For the past ten years, there has been a growth in
export of for an average of 11 percent annually. This figure is considered to be significant.
Filipino furniture products have made a name around the word. There is also a growing
industry for this type of product considering the increase in the number of infrastructures
and highly skilled craftsmen and manpower that supports the development of the industry.

Furnitures add life and color to a room. Furnitures are sometimes not just about
the price, though sometimes price do matters. But now, the trend is on the design which
furniture are molded. When we talk about furnitures, not just simple furnitures but artistic
furnitures, we will often hear the name of Mr. Kenneth Cobonpue. He is one of the many
great artists of amazing furniture designs that are now known not just in the Philippines,
but all over the world.
 One of his greatest works is the bloom chair, which is taken from the concept of a
flower that blooms. Just by simply looking at the furniture, you will see it as a flower that
blooms, as simple as that. And when you try to sit on it, it is like literally sitting on a flower
but actually you’re not. The bloom chair is an example of what we often hear that
“simplicity is beauty”. The simple design of the chair does not portray just a simple chair.
We see more of an elegant type of chair that is not just found and made anywhere. It is
something that is exemplary.

The chair is made of soft folds of handmade microfiber fabric stitched into a steel
base. The chair is only available in red, moss green, light green and yellow color. Due to
its unique design, it was a winner of the “Coup de Coeur” Award at Maison et Objet Paris
last September 2009. And it elegance relfects on its price. One chair would cost 2,465
USD or would cost more or less 130,000 in Philippine peso.