Tales from the silkscreen master's mother
I distinctly remember the first time Ava Paguyo made her mark in my mind. I used to take units in Clothing Technology at UP and Ava (then still known as Aura) was in my pattern making class. I don’t know how it happened, but I believe there must have been some kind of conversation in class that revolved around ‘80s artistas: Tina Paner, Sheryl Cruz, Herbert Bautista. My personal favorite was Lotlot De Leon. As a child, my mother’s seamstress was a full-on Noranian so I grew up on “Lotlot and Friends” and have an image of her dancing to Walk Like An Egyptian engraved permanently in my mind. I then had the great idea of telling everyone that we should all dress up as our favorite ‘80s Pinoy artista. We laughed and brought up shoulder pads, LA Gear, baston jeans and leggings and all made a pact to wear it the next class. Obviously I got dibs on Lotlot.
The next day, everyone completely forgot about it. Except Ava who showed up in all her batwing topped, one shoulder exposed, denim mini skirted Tina Paner glory. I officially loved her since that day.
It is a well-known fact that I choose my interns based on outfit cuteness (this was back when my dress sense revolved around Japanese magazines like Cutie and Fruits so I wore a minimum of five colors a day) so Ava and her BFF/partner in crime Kitty Caragay were shoo-ins and became my interns the summer that followed. I like to remember those days as the intern “glory days” as it was when I was younger and still had the energy to go out, so my interns were not just interns, they were my posse and my children, following the footsteps left by my original intern dynamic duo, Hannah Cruz and Goldie Poblador. I took them everywhere I went. Ava and Kitty were Intern Pair No. 3, and we have a running joke in the studio that we have a Mich Dulce School of Passion curse: that interns start in pairs but only one really survives, and only Ava and Kitty have broken that curse — to this day, when I see one of them, I immediately think of the other.
If there was an intern survivor contest in my studio, Ava would probably have won, as evidenced by her being my only intern who goes to my house on her own to hang out with my mother when I am out of the country. After she graduated, she became my right hand girl and helped me survive my first solo show. She ran my company while I was in the Big Brother house and when I had first started leaving the country to try sell my line globally. She mastered my “Grr days” and my temper tantrums, and the craft of dealing with my terribly flaky seamstress Aling Nene. But most of all, she mastered the art of silkscreening, which I am proud to say that I taught her.
Today, weather permitting, Ava Paguyo launches Stockholm St., her second collaboration with Heima Home and Lifestyle. Following her first collection, called Mash-Up 2008, Ava once again shows us her screen-printing prowess with her trademark hand-printed neon graphics on scarves and pillows. Each piece is handmade with love by Ava herself, in her home studio on Stockholm Street, each with a print that is distinctly her own.
As someone who has seen Ava literally from the start of her career, through to her days on the first season of Project Runway Philippines, to building her textile design image, not to mention her dabbling in the wellness industry, I am proud to see another achievement under Ava’s belt before she moves into another chapter of her life. It’s funny because she’s said a number of times that she was giving up her fashion career, but it seems even in her next endeavor, she’s still doing what she stopped her pre-Clothing Technology life for. Looks like she’s in it for life, and I, for one, am glad, as I think our lives would probably be quite bleak without Ava’s neon-colored touch.
* * *
Stockholm St. by Ava Paguyo launches at Heima Makati tonight, Aug. 10, from 7 – 11 p.m. with DJ Sets by Uncledaddy, Kill Your Boyfriend, Only Revolution and Mich Dulce. Heima is at Unit 229 LRI Design Plaza, 210 Nicanor Garcia Street, Brgy. Bel-Air II.
