World-class Italian furniture maker B&B Italia recently held a fantastic 15th-anniversary celebration. Abitare Internazionale, sole local distributor of B&B Italia, corroborated with renowned photographer Frank Hoefsmit and my pal Anton San Diego, editor in chief of the Philippine Tatler, natch, to mount an eye-catching photo exhibit, featuring B&B Italia’s 15 iconic pieces, paired with several namedroppables.
Those who modeled the pieces included business partners Kaye Tiñga and Andy Vazquez Prada; Vivienne Tan; architect J. Anton “Tonichi” Mendoza; fashion designers Inno Sotto and Pepito Albert; chef Margarita Fores; award-winning ballet dancers Candice Adea and JM Cordero; lawyer Andy Sta. Maria and wife Felice; and Italian Ambassador Luca Fornari and Madame Silvana Fornari, dahlings.
The photographs showcased B&B Italia’s artistic and technological advancements in furniture design. In the spotlight were such classics as the Diesis sofa by Antonio Citterio and Paolo Nava, and the Up 5 & 6 designed by Gaetano Pesce. Both Citterio and Pesce are architects by training and have made a great impact on interior design.
We breezed through the exhibit while sipping our cocktails and partaking of the heavy bar-chow by Margarita Fores.
Then our super-nice hosts, Jeanne Wee and Arturo Go, showed us around while we were totally impressed with their jaw-dropping ultramodern home furniture.
Enjoying the celebration were Abitare Internazionale VP Agerico Paras, B&B Italia’s area manager for Asia Paolo Raveli, Mercy Feliciano, Rica Davila, Ed Calma and wife, Suzanne, and Pabling Calma with wife Maribel and son interior designer Carlo.
Foreign invitees showing their support for Abitare Internazionale included Flou managing director and owner Massimiliano Messina, world-renowned architect and designer Carlo Colombo, Walter Knoll area managers Giuseppe Peditto and Nils Crusius, who all agreed the B&B Italia happening was definitely one for the books, dahlings.
Facial Care Centre
Many of Cosmo-Manille’s women arrived in full glow and glamour when Facial Care Centre celebrated its 30th anniversary with a grand shindig at Peninsula Manila Hotel’s chic Conservatory.
From De Capo Strings dahlings, to the popular Company, the venue overflowed with music as well as magic and beauty.
Dashing Marc Nelson hosted the celebration, which opened with a video featuring Facial Care’s hot A-list endorsers and, naturellement, dahlings, its breakthrough noninvasive technology.
FCC president George Siy welcomed the “women of today” and made a toast “to 30 more years for Facial Care.”
Peter Prestidge praised photographer Raymund Isaac for “capturing 15 of the country’s most beautiful women for FCC’s 2013 Beauty Calendar.”
Paolo Ledesma serenaded the stunning calendar beauties with “The Way You Look Tonight.”
Dawn Zulueta-Lagdameo, one of those photographed, said, “I’m very proud to be part of the Facial Care Centre family because it’s a milestone to reach 30 years the way you all have. I think you’re the only establishment that’s actually been around this long. So congratulations to Facial Care Centre, and thank you for having me in your family!”
Cherie Gil, Agot Isidro and Jenni Epperson, who also posed for Isaac, also gave remarks.
Green quartz earrings by Jul Dizon were presented to the women. Raffled off were over 30 gift certificates worth P15,000 each of FCC treatments, 10 Charriol bracelets and a fab Chanel bag. Needless to say, the guests were ecstatic and thrilled and said they had an unforgettable happening, care of Facial Care Centre, naturellement, dahlings.
Cine Europa
Cine Europa had a grand opening night at Shangri-La Plaza, dahlings.
Welcoming movie enthusiasts was Lubomir Frebort, chargé d’affaires of the Delegation of the European Union, and Lala Fojas, GM of Shangri-La Plaza.
The inaugural got on a roll with a performance by the Manila String Quartet; a painting exhibition by Mari Gonz; and finally, the screening of “Upperdog,” the first Norwegian film in the annual festival.
The festival is organized by the European Union Cultural Group, which gathers the embassies and cultural institutes of the European Union. This year, the festival also collaborated with the embassies of Norway and Switzerland, Film Development Council of the Philippines, Independent Film Cooperative, Arts Council of Cebu and Liceo de Cagayan de Oro.
Cine Europa presented 21 acclaimed films from all over Europe, dahlings. No wonder this event felt like one was in a United Nations general assembly, n’est ces pas?
