Local artists told to focus on quality and uniqueness

CEBU, Philippines - A Cebuano designer who has made it big in the United States advised local artists to focus on quality and uniqueness of their products with careful emphasis on putting a distinctive Filipino flavor in it.

Dan Boyarski, currently a design professor at the Carnegie Mellon University in Boston, although technology has made designing more complex these days, the world no longer care if a design comes from the Philippines or elsewhere, what is vital is "making it very good."

Boyarski was one of the main speakers during the Cebu Business Month (CBM 2014) Salon Talks event, which aimed at connecting the Cebu creative players or artists to the global professionals.

He emphasized that with the ASEAN integration for instance, those who will survive are those that make good and well-designed products in whatever forms.

"People will buy products initially because it is good, not because it is from the Philippines. But if you constantly do something good, then they notice that good come from the Philippines," said Boyarski who teaches typography, information and interaction design, and time-based communication at the graduate and undergraduate levels.

He said despite the very transparent and open marketing window that technology is afforded to the modern designers, there’s "nothing better than the word of mouth."

What makes a good artist, or designer is not its fluency in technology to manipulate its work, but being grounded and in touched with the basics will make a very good artist or designer.

"Let’s not throw away the old [practices] too quickly. It’s important to go back to the basics," he said adding that amid the sophisticated technology that is easily available "I still believe in physical and visual aspects of form."

He further told Cebuano artists, designers, architects, and members of the Creative Council of Cebu, to find what is most "uniquely" Filipino and from there they can interplay their concepts and creativeness to make a good design with a distinct Filipino flavor.

While it’s good to see the competition and be aware of the design movement outside, he said "stop borrowing style from elsewhere."

Cebu is trying to position itself as a design hub, or a place with rich pool of globally competitive creative minds taking inspiration from ample of Cebuano artists, like Boyarski, Kenneth Cobonpue, Monique Lhuillier, among others who made it to the top in the world's design industry.

This year's CBM 2014 Creative industry Salon Talks was chaired by furniture and award winning designer Debbie Palao of Design Ventures Cebu Inc. (FREEMAN)