Young interior designers: Of pretty things and perseverance

Heima, aka "Pinterest Land": "It's a feel-good store, everything's photogenic," said owner Rossy Yabut-Rojales.

 

Not the typical home store Most of Heima's clients are young couples or homeowners, said Rossy. "Our designs are nothing too serious so they won't be intimidated," she said. "When we started kasi, people were asking, 'What's the concept behind Heima?' As an interior designer, I was always looking for a store na parang home siya pero fun 'yung dating. Not the typical home stores na parang you'll see," she added. "Also, it's not just furniture, it's a lifestyle. We want to encourage na if you're a fan, you can take home not only furniture, kaya we also have small items." Be confident Rossy admits that at times she feels overwhelmed about being a young, female interior designer. "Kung nasa field ka, like when you are renovating a home, you go to the site and everyone is a guy. I'm young, babae pa, parang they don't take you seriously," she said. "Kasi I work with contractors, foreman, mga karpintero, tapos darating ka, sino ba ito, diba?" But her confidence has grown along the way, she added. "You build up your confidence and hindi sa mayabang, you know what you're doing. Iyon ang importante sa iyong job, kahit ano pa 'yan. If you know what you're doing, it will give you a lot of confidence," she said. "I always tell ang mga staff ko, 'You can always be a leader even if you are young and even if you are a woman.'" And with Filipinos becoming more aware of different design concepts, said Rossy, a designer's gender or age is becoming less of a factor than her specialty. Head of the class For aspiring young designer Kristel Blancas, 21, the fear of failure fueled her to work hard and push herself to her limits. She not only graduated magna cum laude from the University of Santo Tomas, but also topped the October 2012 Interior Design Licensure Examination. "One of the struggles I had was facing the fear of failure. But instead of cowering to this fear, I learned to use it to push myself to my limits," she said. "Optimism and positivity made obstacles look tolerable. I read somewhere that it is up to me to make obstacles or problems work for me or against me. And I chose to meet them head on and let them work for me." Blancas took leave from work to study for the licensure. "I decided to take the morning review class so that no time in the morning would be wasted and I could have the whole afternoon and evening for research and review," she said. "Time was limited so I had to make most out of it. I was still reading my books until the last minute before the examination started. My mentors advised us to relax at least three days before the exam but I couldn’t help it," she added. As a young child, Blancas enjoyed drawing and painting. During summer vacations, she was occupied with art lessons and workshops, exploring different media and expressions. "These workshops opened my eyes to the beautiful world of shapes and colors," she said. "I was inspired to widen my canvas and chose to take up Interior Design. All these exposures to drawing and painting proved beneficial to my studies," she added. Sophistication and functionality With her successful foundation, Blancas said she plans to combine sophistication with functionality in her designs. "For my design aesthetics, I draw great inspiration from the works of Sheila Bridges and Barbara Berry, which combine luxury and sophistication with function and livability in varying styles," she said. "I always design having artworks as focal or featured element of the design. And as for residential interiors, personalization of the space to me is most important and my design should therefore adapt to how the user planned to utilize the space and surroundings and how these would affect the user," she added. — BM, GMA News