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MIDS 2024: PIID Highlights Design Collaboration and Foresees More Global Partnerships in Future Events
The Manila Interior Design Summit (MIDS), held from July 18 to 20, placed the spotlight on design synergy. Organized by the Philippine Institute of Interior Designers (PIID), the three-day event became an inspiring gathering of interior design professionals, enthusiasts, and industry leaders from around the globe as it followed the theme, “A Festival of Collaboration.”
Rossy Yabut Rojales, Executive Director for Professional Development at PIID and MIDS Program Chair, shared that MIDS 2024 was influenced by global design showcases.
“For this year’s Manila Interior Design Summit, the inspiration really was a lot of the international design events, such as [3daysofdesign in] Copenhagen, then Maison[&Objet] in Paris, France, and Milan Design Week. You know, these events have been there for a while, and it’s really nice that we have the Manila Interior Design Summit now because we want to make sure that we’re [at] a global standard in terms of our events and to make sure that we’re competitive in how we take these initiatives to the market,” she explained.
Carla Leonor, Director for Public Relations and Communications at PIID, added, “It’s really a showcase of what we can do. And that was coming from the first Manila Interior Design Summit last year, which was a huge success. So we want to follow that up with something bigger, something stronger, something that really gathers all of us.”
MIDS Recap
MIDS 2024 kicked off with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the MIDS Marker at Bonifacio High Street. Then came messages of support and thanks from John Paolo Castro, PIID National President; Ivy Almario, Asia-Pacific Space Designers Association (APSDA) Vice President and former president of PIID; and Keat Ong, APSDA President.
“The PIID, MIDS, and APSDA are all one because we only have one goal: for an exciting, creative community that’s collaborative,” Almario said in a speech delivered at a lunch gathering at the Focus Global Showroom, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.
MIDS 2024 also featured various design pocket events held at different participating brand showrooms such as Focus Global, Furnitalia, Porcelanosa, Rimadesio, Studio Dimensione, Abension, Lazuli, and Dexterton at Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. Attendees visited these showrooms and participated in various activities, talks, games, and raffles.
The three-day event concluded with a Design Symposium, where renowned global designers such as Lyndon Neri, Alvin Tjitrowirjo, Kezia Karin, Vignesh Kaushik, Jonathan Matti, and Ben Stevenson shared their insights and experiences.
The Value of Working Together
Leonor shared that collaboration is a multidisciplinary approach. “It involves a lot of different professionals, whether you are in the interior design sector, you’re in architecture, you’re in engineering, you’re in landscape architecture. It’s really coming together to deliver really good solutions for the new demands of the market.”
For Rojales, a good collaboration means pursuing a shared objective. “We hear the word collaboration a lot in design and in other fields as well. And for me, to have a good collaboration [means] having a common goal and there will be a process in terms of working together to make sure that there is a great output,” she reflected.
Working with other professionals from different fields can be challenging, but that’s where its beauty lies. “I always say that it has to make you uncomfortable to collaborate with someone else. Because if it gets you uncomfortable, it sparks curiosity. It sparks questioning your design style, questioning the other person’s ideas. That’s where good, innovative designs come out,” Rojales shared.
Design Synergy Beyond MIDS
Rojales believes communication and curiosity “to create something groundbreaking” are vital for any collaboration to succeed. She also promotes “participating in your design community, knowing the artists that are emerging, reading” to foster collaboration outside events like MIDS.
“Because we still encourage a lot of designers to read a lot and to do their research. If you meet somebody, then you never know that a collaboration can start right away. I guess a lot of good ideas sometimes start when it’s unexpected,” the interior designer added.
The Future of Collaborative Design
“I really believe that it would change the landscape of interior design in the Philippines,” Leonor envisioned the succeeding MIDS. “Maybe more collaborations from other partners across the globe, especially that we are forging really strong relationships with organizations such as the Asia-Pacific Space Designers Association, among others.”
Gone are the days when designers worked in silos. By becoming an avenue for networking opportunities, showcasing creative work, and insightful discussions, MIDS 2024 has set the stage for more fruitful partnerships between interior designers, architects, artists, and even those from other sectors, paving the way for groundbreaking designs that not only impress but also provide solutions.
Related reading: Manila Interior Design Summit 2024: A Celebration of Collaboration
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