The recent Manila Fame Expo featured a booth filled with the latest designs of Cebu's furniture designers. (Photo by PRANZ KAENO BILLONES)

What is it with Cebu and its furniture and accessories designers?  Given that island provinces somewhat limited resources, seeming geographical limitations and easy-going ways (at least with regards to the Visayan stereotype), isn’t it quite unlikely that it could give birth and even nurture a furniture and home accessories industry that to the world’s amazement has become truly world-class?

But then it has.  And this was quite apparent in the recent Manila F.A.M.E. expo, wherein again Cebu-based furniture manufacturers and designers have become favorites not only by foreign but also by local buyers.  In fact, their exhibit on the second level of the SMX (Mall of Asia) has become a pilgrimage area of sorts for those wishing to have a preview of currently prevailing and expected trends in home and domestic design.

Of course, given the global recession, everything is also not that rosy with regards to Cebu’s furniture and accessories industry.  Truth be told, some manufacturers have opted to cut back on production—even cease operations altogether—because of the difficulty of marketing their products. But then, it’s as if the industry has again taken to heart the saying that “crisis encourages opportunity” and has even taken steps to further market the province’s own inimitable designs on an even broader market and scale.

In fact, they’ve even re-christened the exhibition known as CEBU X, into CEBUNEXT in anticipation of their drive to further move forward regardless of the sorry state of the world‘s economy.  More than their optimism, however, Cebu manufacturers are banking on the province’s collective strength in coming up with excellent design and its innate ability to anticipate and start trends as their major come-ons in the very competitive furniture and accessories market.

The latter is quite tangible in the furnishings and accessories that are on display in the Cebu manufacturers booth in the Manila FAME expo.  Of course, everyone has Kenneth Cobonpue in mind when thinking about cutting-edge Cebu design.  However, as the products on exhibit show, Cebu is quite a fertile ground for new designers experimenting on even more eye-popping designs and materials.

Speaking of materials, based on the finished products on exhibit, consumers can expect an even wider array of furnishings and accessories using traditional and non-traditional materials, combined with imported materials from China and Europe.  One example would be the chandeliers made from wire (a local material) and crystal (from China) that local Cebu manufacturers combined to make a truly “global product.”  This shows just how attuned local Cebuano manufacturers are in coming up with an oeuvre that anticipates how interconnected all economies are.  Financially speaking, combining materials from different countries also enable them to overcome the commercial disadvantages of globalization to their own benefit.

At present, industry insiders are all in a tizzy as to what to expect in CEBUNEXT next year.  Will new design trends be unveiled?  Will Cebu finally claim leadership in global furniture and accessories design?  Will the next Cebuano furniture designer of note finally be recognized and given due recognition by his peers and buyers.  Well, we can only speculate as we still have less than five months to see what Cebuano designers have up their sleeves.