Lamana Partners with Ishinomaki Laboratory
A LOCAL FURNITURE MANUFACTURER JOINS AN INITIATIVE PROGRAM FOR THEIR DESIGNS TO BE CREATED LOCALLY
A Local furniture manufacturer joins an initiative program for their designs to be created locally
COUPLES JAR AND KAY CONCENGCO welcomes us to their beautiful home one sunny morning. Ostensibly, we wanted to see the products of their company, Lamana, but also to catch up, since Jar is a colleague of ours in Metro Home as one of our excellent photographers.
Jar served us his homemade carbonara pasta with baked pork chops, all while reminiscing about the media industry. The meal was delicious, and the company even better. After the serious business of eating was done, we marveled at their wooden creations, which went well with their moderne-inspired house interiors.
He shows us a simple wooden stool, the renowned Ishinomaki Stool, an internationally-recognized design. It is made of bright brown wood, solid, and a heft that bespeaks quality workmanship.
The shape and form is now iconic, even though the Ishinomaki Lab was only created recently, in 2011, the same year the Great East Japan Earthquake happened. The furniture lab was created to help the residents of the heavily hit Tohoku Region in Japan; Ishinomaki City was one of the most hit areas in that catastrophe.
“Their company was born out of that tsunami,” explains Jar. “After that earthquake came a need for furniture, in order for people to rebuild their lives.”
Keiji Ashizawa, founder and CEO of the company, went back to help his city after the earthquake, and thus Ishinomaki Lab was born. Instead of helping individual residents, Keiji created a workshop to educate people on how to build their own furnishings.
The lab held workshops for primary school students as well, teaching them how to make furniture pieces using wood from donations around the globe. In one of these workshops, Jar and Kay met the Ishinomaki Lab CEO and workshop leader Takahiro Chiba.
“It was two years ago when we met Keiji and Takahira in their workshop here in Manila,” Jar relates. “We loved the minimalism, the clean lines, and the straightforward and practical functions of their designs. Kay and I were really interested in bringing their products to the Philippines, but then they told us about their Made in Local Initiative.”
The Made in Local initiative is a program created by Ishinomaki Lab for their designs to be created locally, by native craftsmen. Under the program, they collaborate with international artisans and share the spirit of the brand’s style. Ishinomaki Laboratory wanted to materialize a globalized approach to their iconic designs.
“We decided to establish Lamana, so we can participate in the initiative. We are now licensed to manufacture and sell Ishinomaki Lab pieces, using local craftsmen and with locally available materials,” Jar says. The idea is a laudable enterprise, as a way to empower our local craftsmen, and to create globally competitive products. Made in Local projects are currently located in London, Berlin, and Manila.
Apart from the Ishinomaki Stool, which is striking in its understated design and utilitarian spirit, we love the AA High Stool, which is cunningly designed to be stacked and combined to form different uses like a trestle table, for example. Also notable is Carry Stool, a set of stacking stools that, when turned upside down, becomes a container or a tray.
Lamana will soon sell their own locally designed products by local artisans, from benches, stools, and book stands to mirror shelves, trays, tissue boards, and many more.
Ishinomaki Lab furniture by Lamana is now available in Xception, 102 Aguirre, Legazpi Village, Makati City. For inquiries and purchases, visit Lamana’s official website ( https://www.lamanaph.com), Instagram (@lamanaph), or Facebook page (fb.com/lamanaph).