Renato Vidal and the true colors of Christmas

MANILA, Philippines - The first Christmas was set in a barn, the manger lined with straw and hay, and there was grass for the cattle and other animals that occupied the humble place where the Prince of Peace was born. That Good News was first announced to shepherds out in the field, tending to their sheep on grassy knolls outside of Bethlehem. It was all very simple, bare even, a far cry from the glitz and glitter, the tinsel and sparkle of today’s Christmas celebrations.

As holiday tableaux and Christmas decorations around town dazzle and try to outdo each other as the brightest, the most elaborate, the fanciest and glitziest, one designer has stayed true to his elements by creating holiday décor made out of things of the earth – grass, twigs, seeds, leaves, moss, vines – that startle first by their sheer size and then again by the unpretentiousness of their materials.

Renato Vidal, the multi-awarded and internationally acclaimed designer of furniture and accessories, is the featured designer for this Christmas season at the Hyatt Hotel and Casino Manila. Staying true to his roots in Camarines Sur, Vidal fills the public spaces of the hotel with larger-than-life baskets and lamps and accent pieces woven, formed and fashioned from dried leaves and roots and twigs and vines found in the remote area of the Bicol region where he has his factory. In a very real way, his are works of art made from found objects; if not rescued by Vidal and his workshop of talented neighbors, these would have been thrown away or used as kindling.

Vidal, a most unassuming but totally charming and funny man, is an ardent advocate of sustainable living. He does not work with wood because, he says, “I cannot imagine that I will be making furniture while the trees around me will be cut down. It is not right.”

Vidal is a member of Movement 8, a loose alliance of Filipino designers whose mission is to present to the world the best of Filipino design. They are an acclaimed lot: individually and collectively, working in different media, these artists have been hailed by international design experts, featured in top magazines of design and furnishing, and their pieces are in the collections of elite design houses and retailers all over the world.      

For the past four years, Hyatt Hotel Manila has opted to present what they call a designer Christmas, inviting artists to interpret Christmas as they wish, using materials that boldly strike out from the usual things associated with the season. Starting with Davao-based Ann Pamintuan who presented her signature welded wire sculptural pieces, the hotel has showcased the glass and metal works of Impy Pilapil, and the paper masterpieces of Tes Pasola and Makoto Yamagishi. Vidal’s landscape of vases, lamps, baskets and stools that simulate trees and boulders and even mushrooms and jellyfish using organic and indigenous materials is a fascinating celebration of the lush bounty of nature in all its shapes and forms.

Vidal uses his materials mostly in their original state, simply dried and on occasion lacquered or varnished. He has studied the characteristics of his materials and knows very well how they can be bent, shaped and woven to his desired specifications while keeping to the demands of strength and durability, since he has to meet international standards of his export market. It is a tribute to his keen sense of proportion, of occupying space, of his ability to turn concept into reality that his “Symmetry of Nature” exhibits in several areas of the hotel were put together and set up in record time. It is a tribute too to the skill and craftsmanship of his workers in Camarines.

All his art pieces will be for sale and proceeds will be donated to the Kythe Foundation which serves cancer-stricken pediatric patients, and the Make-a-Wish Foundation.

Vidal also made a Wishing Tree, where Wish tags will be available for sale to anyone who wants to hang their wishes. All proceeds from the Wish tags go to the Make-a-Wish Foundation, which grants the wishes of children afflicted with life-threatening illnesses. Since 1999, over 600 children and their families in the Philippines have been touched by the foundation’s work.

While the gold and the tinsel and the glitter of Christmas may bring excitement and thrill, remember that the true colors of Christmas may just be the browns and greens of Nature, the colors of hope and joy and love that came to earth that first Christmas in a barn in Bethlehem.