Quality and durable furniture need not come at a steep price.
Interior designer Sigvard “Jigs” Adefuin has come up with an eponymous furniture and decorative elements store at LRI Plaza, Makati’s mecca for home furnishing.
Adefuin recalls that in his design projects, clients were attracted to premium brands for their craftsmanship and materials, but couldn’t afford the steep prices.
As an alternative, Adefuin started making furniture with the help of artisans from Pampanga, Cavite and Laguna. People who understand quality, noted the clean and crisp handwork and the attention to detail. The demand led to Sigvard Collections, whose price starts at P20,000, and a large sofa costs P80,000 depending on the client’s preferred fabric.
Inspirational
The store is set up with inspirational settings that cater to different tastes and lifestyles. The most popular, the traditional furniture, is characterized by elegant, carved, lacquered frames with silk or velvet upholstery. Adefuin also draws references from other period or cultural styles. In one vignette, he combines the relaxed and clean lines of modern sofas with the organic, high-back arts-and-crafts-inspired armchairs.
A writing desk set features the curved forms and polished woods of the Art Deco style. Dining chairs range from the Moroccan-inspired trellis backs to the round profiles suggestive of the King Louis period.
Adefuin also offers luxury linens using 600-thread-count cotton imported from Italy.
The settings showcase the decorative elements sourced abroad, such as silver leaf mirror frames, metal candelabras, brass lamps, crystal chandeliers and paintings by famous artists such as Justin Nuyda, Malang, Isabel Diaz and Onib Olmedo.
Adefuin studied at the Philippine School of Interior Design and earned his degree in Interior Design from De La Salle College of Saint Benilde. He took up postgraduate studies in Living and Interior Design at the Domus Academy in Milan, Italy.
On the difference between education in the Philippines and Italy, he explains, “We are taught here to design based on the space. There, you create a design concept first before you design the space. The advantage of the Philippine education is that you are given the basic, technical tools first for interior design. In Milan, you are taught to think out of the box.” —CONTRIBUTED
Sigvard Collections is at G/F, LRI Design Plaza, Nicanor Garcia St., Bel-Air, Makati.