CITEM to have 2 international gurus for Design Week Philippines

MANILA, Philippines - The country’s export marketing authority is bringing in two international luminaries to help turn the Philippines into “Asia’s Design Destination.”

Confirmed to share their “trade secrets” with the local design industry, David Monn and Calvin Tsao will join the national celebration of the Design Week Philippines (DWP), according to the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM), the main proponent of this event that runs from October 14 to 20.

CITEM Executive Director Rosvi C. Gaetos revealed that Monn and Tsao would headline the Manila FAME Design Talks during the DWP’s International Design Talks and Fora, a knowledge sharing platform on how design could drive the economy through innovations.

Monn is the founder of his own full-service event and design firm that handles projects around the globe and transforms environments into experiences.

Monn’s achievements include the White House State Dinner with Mexican President Felipe Calderon, the New York Public Library Lions Dinner, the Fontainebleau Miami’s Grand Re-Opening, the 100th Anniversary celebration of the Plaza Hotel, the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Gala, and the grand opening of the $1.7-billion Time-Warner Center, among others.

On the other hand, Tsao, who has served as vice president for design excellence at the AIA New York Chapter, is president emeritus of The Architectural League of New York and a member of the Visiting Committee to Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design.

Tsao was inducted into the Interior Design Hall of Fame in 2001, and received the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award for Interior Design in 2009. He has taught at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and at the Parsons School of Design, and has served as guest critic and design juror at universities and institutes in the US.

The seminar is being organized by CITEM and the Korea Institute of Design Promotion (KIDP) to help improve the export-readiness and global competitiveness of the country’s small and medium enterprises.

Both events will be open to the public, according to CITEM, which can be reached through email [email protected] for more information.