CEBU CITY, Philippines — The “Star Wars” collection of renowned industrial designer Kenneth Cobonpue is just the start of his collaboration with Disney, the Cebu-based designer said over the weekend.
Cobonpue was one of the speakers at the OCEAN 18 Summit held last Saturday in Lapu-Lapu City. In his talk, the world-famous designer said that he was initially hesitant to accept the deal with Disney.
“When Disney came to me first, I said: 'You don’t need me'. I don’t make replicas of X-wings and I don’t put any characters on my furniture,” he shared. Cobonpue added that he told Disney has never made anything without putting his name on it.
The Imperial Wing armchair (front and back) is inspired by the Galactic Empire’s fleet of TIE fighters.
He said that his remarks actually opened up a wider path for him and Disney.
READ: Disney taps Kenneth Cobonpue to create Star Wars furniture
Cobonpue shared that Disney later said: “Okay, you can co-brand... use any product,” which includes Mickey Mouse and Marvel characters.
“The whole Disney world, which is great,” he added.
Cobonpue said that he mostly draws inspiration from nature. He shared that the first design that he made was inspired by nature: From the blades of grass that inspired the Yoda chair used by heads of states at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation welcome dinner in 2015, to a sheep that was the base of the inspiration for the Chewie Rocking Stool.
He said that he later owned the brand of “transparent” design.
The Chewie rocking stool is covered with microfiber strips wrapped with a fabric belt to represent Chewbacca’s ammo belt.
'You cannot wait for inspiration to come'
Cobonpue also shared with the audience, composed of "Indiepreneurs" or independent entrepreneurs, that he has enforced discipline on himself through the years.
“Design is like a sport. You cannot wait for inspiration to come,” he shared. He also said that every day, he "tries to come up with something."
"Sometimes it comes, sometimes it doesn’t," he said, but he has learned that it the end, design boils down to discipline.
Cobonpue released his new “Star Wars” furniture collection last month. It includes Darth Vader, Sidious and Imperial Wings easy armchairs.
The designer quipped that it seemed like he has an affinity for the “Dark Side,” but he said that his personal favorite among the collection is the Little Jedi lamp.
Little Jedi lamp features Jedi knights holding light sabers, which are the light source.
“This is the first of many collections we’ll be doing for Disney and it’s only available in the Philippines. For now,” he added.
Editor's note: The trip to Cebu was hosted by OCEAN Summit. At no stage does the host organization have a say on the stories generated from the coverage, interviews conducted, publication date and story treatment. Content is produced solely by Philstar.com following editorial guidelines.