Don’t be fooled by the shy and soft-spoken voice. Product designer Lilianna Manahan is known for creating amusing and unconventional accessories that actually work.
Melding the past and present in a quirky yet graceful way, she has been getting the buzz for her miniature mythical creatures. The designs recall the ancient Greek Geometric art while the brass and resin finishing evoke modern molding techniques and coloring.
These freakish creatures of odd beauty found their way in the recent Fifth Paris Design Week, an eight-day event that celebrated creativity in galleries, display areas, restaurants, hotels and retail spaces. Manahan was the only Filipino woman who had the good fortune to have her products exhibited at the Galerie Joseph in Marais, Paris.
Last year, Manahan was featured as one of “Rising Asian Talents” in the first Maison&Objet Asia, the interior design trade exhibition in Singapore. Her lamps and home pieces caught the attention of the organizers of the Paris Design Week. One day, the 30-year-old designer received an invitation to participate in the Paris exhibit.
Manahan says in modesty that she shipped only a few pieces. Weighing 15 grams, the “Nog,” a term she coined to describe one of her works, is a composite of resin and brass animals. Typical of ancient Greek art, the Nog’s rectangular head and conical body look like a hybrid of a horse and dog.
Another creature recalls the griffin, a legendary half-bird and half-lion. Manahan’s idiosyncratic humor portrays a half-chicken and half-fat cat. Then there’s the Ooma, a llama with the humps of a camel.
Although they’re flights of fancy, these animals can function as paper weights and bookends. The brass pieces such as the Merchicken (it’s got the head of a chicken and fish scales) weigh less than a kilo.
Manahan is tweaking these designs so that they can be used to hold flowers, candles or little gewgaws.
Elvira’s menagerie
She says the designs were culled from her childhood fascination with the collections of her grandmother—the late society icon Elvira Manahan, an avid collector of beautiful miniatures.
She cites brass “Merchicken” as her most significant work. When she made it in 2012, also the year she opened her design studio, the creature received a lot of attention. Manahan got more invitations to participate in exhibits.
“It says the most about me,” she explains. “I like telling stories, and it is rooted in what I like—history, metal and fanciful creatures.” Metal is one of her favored materials because of its sheen and malleability.
Manahan claims that the beholder can be relieved from boredom or stress just by looking at her creations. “If you have that piece on the table, take a 10-second break especially on a busy day. It eases the mind. It takes you off [temporarily] from what you’re concentrating on.”
Another landmark piece is the Asterix lamp, a multipointed table lamp with a drum-like light source. The base resembles a star made with a pipe stem and emanating solid rods. Perforated metal sheets wrap the LED light like a drum.
She ups the ante with her Mwah, Moi Vanity Mirror by setting it on a rolling pin-like stem, attached with wooden trays and a cup made of turned wood. “Most of my stuff in my studio are objects that I had grown up with,” she says.
Manahan hopes to focus on making more accessories and accent lighting and custom pieces for select clients. Her tabletop pieces are sold at Univers in One Rockwell, AC+632 in Greenbelt 5 and Cura V at Power Plant Mall in Rockwell.
On influences, Manahan is drawn to Japanese and Dutch designers. The Japanese are lauded for simplicity of form with raw and crazy energy. The Dutch have established a bold aesthetic that can be riotously zany. They are fearless in mixing materials or expressing their idiosyncrasies.
Like her foreign counterparts, Manahan takes risks and enjoys the process. “It’s a gift and I can share it with others,” she says.