Photos by RODMILL G. LOPEZ
An eye-catching burst of colors and textures greets you at Casa Gorilla, an art-gallery-inspired home spanning 283 square meters, featuring pop surrealist creations by homeowners Kristoffer Lloyd Valera and Crisel Sulit-Valera.
A year and a half in the making, Casa Gorilla displays a modern contemporary style with a touch of industrial architecture. Its clam-shaped land veers away from traditional square lot dimensions, emphasizing a non-conventional, artistic house layout.
The house draws inspiration from contemporary art galleries with its open layout, high ceilings, and mood lighting. The art-integrated home showcases monochromatic gray shades, which complement textures such as authentic clay bricks and wood-colored fluted panels.
“We chose fluted panels instead of real wood for the outdoor parts of the house for durability and ease of maintenance,” said Kristoffer, who considered the structure’s preservation.
Brick walls in selected areas also add a touch of lived-in charm, creating a vintage look that evokes a sense of generational history and character. Lush green landscaping is also integrated both outside and within to soften the house's sharp corners, notably beneath the stairs.
Pendant, pin, and cool-toned track lights likewise contribute to the gallery-like atmosphere, which is the couple's goal. Featuring a six-meter-high ceiling layout in the living area, this allowed the homeowners to display artworks and paintings without compromising space.
“In our living room staircase, we chose to place our own paintings that we created as early as 2003 up to the present. The idea was to show our artistic progress from the bottom of the staircase going up,” said Crisel.
From the living room, guests can enjoy an expansive view of the paintings on both the first and second floors. To preserve their artworks, they keep their older pieces away from direct sunlight, while their watercolor crafts are in glass frames for added protection. Meanwhile, the floor area is around 350 square meters, which gives the couple enough space for art play.
Behind the artistic creations
With a fine arts degree under their belt, the couple ventured into everything — traditional art, graphic design, printing, tattooing, and sculpting — to defy the myth that “there’s no money in art.” They eventually penetrated the international T-shirt design industry, which paved the way for Casa Gorilla.
“Paint will eventually fade, but that is the beauty of having your own space; it will always give you something to work on and room for improvement. The key is to adapt to change, realizing that your house is just a material possession, and the people living in it matter the most.”
“Kung titignan mo parang T-shirt lang naman siya, pero siya ‘yung cheapest way na makabili ka ng art na functional (If you look at it, it may seem like just a T-shirt, but it's actually the most affordable way to buy functional art),” shared Kristoffer.
Despite achieving their dream of an art-integrated home, he still recalls their humble beginnings in the art scene. “Masayang na kami dati na kumikita sa isang artwork ng $13 …hanggang nagstart kami sa The Grim Reaper na medyo bumenta at $145. From there, nagtuloy-tuloy na, sinipagan lang namin mag-upload sa mga sites (We were happy back to earn $13 from a single artwork… then, we started with The Grim Reaper, which did quite well at $145. From there, it continued, we just put in the effort to upload our work on websites),” he recalled.
“Put yourselves out there because no one is going to notice you out of the blue. That dream of someone discovering you is a thing of the past. You're the one who has to find a way to reach out to potential clients. You need to sense what's selling at the moment,” he added in Filipino.
The couple primarily focuses on doing digital art for profitability, although they still get back to their traditional art roots to keep things interesting. They likewise repurpose their son’s old toys, custom-paint dinner plates, repaint old and discarded frames, and paint on unusual canvases like skateboards, to breathe life into them.
Meanwhile, in pursuit of their dreams, Kristoffer believes that there is no fixed timeline, especially in the art industry.
Envisioning the future
While the art-enriched home still has a few more walls for future paintings, the couple plans to focus on creating and acquiring more freestanding art such as sculptures and art installations.
“Casa Gorilla will always evolve, from new artworks to new pieces of furniture, as well as new memories; the structure will eventually expand and progress,” said Kristoffer.
Despite having created a beautiful home, the couple agrees that no material possession can last a lifetime; hence, it’s the people who make the living space truly worthwhile.
“Paint will eventually fade, but that is the beauty of having your own space; it will always give you something to work on and room for improvement. The key is to adapt to change, realizing that your house is just a material possession, and the people living in it matter the most.”
All in all, the Valera’s artistic journey serves as proof that achieving one’s dreams requires proactive effort, not “waiting for apples to fall from a tree.” As a two-person team, the couple have defied the odds, proving that being involved in art is a sustainable profession. For them, it has birthed Casa Gorilla, a realization of a dream and a tangible proof that the Philippine creative industry is doing better than ever.