Fitting space for a designer

Nestled somewhere between the brightly lit skyscrapers of the bustling Makati business district is a gem of a space owned by designer Randy Ortiz. Purchased fairly recently — the designer has occupied the apartment for about a year — the seventh-floor unit boasts four bedrooms, each with a toilet and bath, and a glassed-in view of the city stretching from one end of the apartment to the other.

Surprisingly, Ortiz lucked out with the place. He’d originally been shopping around for a potential retirement home in Tagaytay — to be used as a weekend getaway during the long transition period between his current busy state and upcoming escape from the working life — when his broker informed him of an old apartment for sale in Makati. "I couldn’t help but think that retirement was still far away," Ortiz reasoned, "and in the end that weekend getaway would turn into every other weekend to once a month."

So when he took one look at the apartment, which came with a reasonable price tag as the place was foreclosed by a bank, he immediately snapped it up. "It’s really more practical for me to live here because I always found myself coming to Makati every other day."

Ortiz collaborated with abstract painter Doltz Pilar on putting the space together. "It was kind of a mess at the start," Pilar says of the apartment. The twosome conceptualized a space that was light and airy, converting what was originally a dark and cluttered structural design into a breathable, easy-access flow. Taking inspiration from various styles, Ortiz culled references from the modern and art deco movement — and infused the space with native elements like oversize mother-of-pearl vases to add depth. The final verdict: the Ortiz home is a potpourri of eras that all look to clean design.

Solo Plight

One of the building’s niftiest perks is its privacy. Enter the building’s wrought-iron entrance and the guard escorts you to the double-entry elevator and whisks out a key for the appropriate floor — making undesirable guests a forgotten nuisance, and potential thieves a no-no. Ortiz shares the entire seventh floor with only one other occupant. Separated by the elevator, it makes the awkward time spent waiting for the elevator to arrive unnecessary.

The elevator leads straight to Ortiz’s front door, a space decorated with a white lounge chair in leather, candles and a soothing Zen water fountain, which is essentially a cylinder in cement on a small round pedestal perched atop a flatbed of gray-colored stones.

The foyer used to be a much smaller space until Ortiz and Pilar decided to tear down an unnecessary wall that blocked the area preceding the master’s bedroom, study and fitting room. Upon opening up the space, Ortiz followed the flow of the room. He placed a horizontal abstract Ivan Acuña piece on the right wall, directly leading the eye to the living and dining room beyond.

As first impressions go, the foyer leaves a decidedly masculine impression. A black oriental chest from Ortiz’s old place anchors the space. Though it could hardly be classified as modern, he considers the cabinet’s angular lines in theme with the rest of the apartment’s décor. Textured ceramic vases from Pampanga decorate the top, while the collection is flanked by his very own scented designer candles, soon to be available at his shop, which he shares with seven other designers, including his co-design conspirator Doltz Pilar. "The shop will debut in Greenbelt 5 sometime this fall," he says. The soothing scent of vanilla warms up the area and adds a coziness similar to the feeling one gets upon entering a home filled with the scent of freshly baked goods, only this time the candles are fat-free. And since they’re soy-based, according to Ortiz, they come vegan-ready, too.

To the side of the foyer are the three bedrooms, two of which Ortiz converted into working areas. One is a fitting room, a small space with a simple chaise lounge, while the other is his study room, where he comes to research upcoming collections and fix his accounts.

An opaque sliding door divides the study and his master’s bedroom. "I think it was meant to be a nursery," he says of the study room, due its unique accessibility to the main bedroom.

A study in subtle palettes, one wall is a gray laminate that he added for texture. "It’s an accent wall," he explains. Dominating the room is a large desk, usually occupied by his iBook, LV planner and books he looks to for inspiration. Currently on his reading list is a book on Audrey Hepburn, which includes facsimiles of her little trinkets — from invites for her son’s birthday party to small renditions of her film posters. "She was such an elegant figure," Ortiz says with a sigh as we rifle through the book.

One eye-catching element of the otherwise staid room is a hanging lamp made of what appears to be broken mirrored pieces somehow glued together, purchased from an Italian furniture store. The rest of the pieces came from his old place, including artwork by renowned Filipino masters Arturo Luz, which lounges complacently on the floor underneath a Bencab charcoal of three nudes.

The master’s bedroom is surprisingly large, with a bathroom-slash-walk-in closet that wraps around one side of the bedroom. "It used to be all gray and black," says Ortiz, "but after a few months, I got tired of it. So I added red." From the splash of the bold, deep-cherry hue on the bedspread to the Pilar abstract in the corner of the room, he made sure to even out the color throughout, allowing a gradation of gray, cornflower and red to flow smoothly from one color gradient to another. "If there’s one thing we learned from designing," he adds, "it’s not to clash colors."

The custom-made bed faces Ortiz’s impressive Samsung entertainment set, which includes multiple surround-sound speakers and a large flat-screen plasma. "I watch a lot of TV these days," he says ruefully. "I watch American Idol regularly, as well Prison Break and Pinoy Big Brother. I got into Entourage only recently."

Here a bamboo-scented candle, also by Ortiz, infuses the room with a vaguely tropical fragrance. Spot lighting puts the focus on the oversize Pilar abstract on one wall, while a Philippe Starck-designed acrylic lamp highlights another Pilar painting.

Go With The Flow

The entire space — kitchen, dining and living room — all flows into each other. Thanks to Ortiz’s architect Dino Padilla, Ortiz took out the kitchen’s partition to expose the cooking area and open up the space. That way, he created an area for entertaining, due largely to the kitchen’s large island. With this in mind, Ortiz had all the cabinetry done in an off-white finish for a modern feel, and enclosed all the kitchen appliances behind the white cabinets.

A wet bar off the living room was transformed into a chic powder room, wrapped in opaque green-tinged glass with the floors covered in mosaic tile.

With some help from his interior decorator Roan Espino, Ortiz created a living area in muted grays and somber blacks. A custom-made couch lines one side, next to an oversize coffee-table upholstered in a lighter gray. He filled the space with oddly shaped chairs, a particular favorite of the designer.

"When I buy a bag, I always opt for something with a different shape," he says. "It’s the same with chairs." From the custom-made red acrylic chair in his bedroom — which he uses when he watches shows on his huge Samsung plasma TV — to the space-age egg-shaped clear resin chair off the hallway, Ortiz likes to indulge himself when it comes to seating.

You Are Where You Eat

But his main pride and joy is the dining room. "My piece de resistance" as he calls it. The space is dominated by a table large enough to seat about 10. Made by Rene Alcala, the table consists of cut mother of pearl and cut glass with beveled edges. He commissioned Vincent Padua to create the white leather chairs, and then he juxtaposed black Moltini chairs as accent pieces on each end.

"This is really my favorite room in the apartment," Ortiz says, as he lounges at the head of the table. "Whenever people come over, we all end up here." Since he’s known to hold dinner parties with friends on a regular basis, fellow designers and industry players already look to the established Ortiz to play host to them.

"Sometimes I say, ‘What about your place naman?’" he says with a laugh. "I guess it’s because this is where all the action happens."