Create, innovate–and how
Imagination of young artists knew no bounds in Swatch contest
ONE WINNER recreated the peaceful scenes of Switzerland using ornate hand-cut designs on a single piece of paper. Another designed a fashionable outfit that could be transformed into a tent and sleeping bag.
Swatch’s recently held “Create and Innovate” not only yielded big surprises; it also showed how the Filipino’s imagination knew no limits in creating art—even if it centered on a place so far from the Philippines, like Switzerland.
The art competition chose winners whose artistic pizzazz was able to capture the essence of Switzerland.
The event was presented by the Embassy of Switzerland in the Philippines and the iconic horology Swatch. It was sponsored by the Swiss Cultural Fund-Philippines and Etihad Airways.
The idea was to challenge budding artists to think out-of-the-box. At stake were a trip to Switzerland, cash prizes, commemorative Swatch watches and Swiss gift bags.
There were three categories: the Create category, which challenged artists to make something new inspired by something Swiss; the Innovate category, which asked them to tweak an old Swiss concept; and the Swatch category, which asked them to incorporate a touch of Swatch in their works.
The competition drew many entries, and the winners presented works that were a notch above the rest.
Robbin Jay S. Gregorio won the Create category by recreating the peaceful scenes of Switzerland using ornate hand-cut designs on a single piece of paper.
Eugene Michael Tidalgo won the Innovate category by creating a fashionable outfit that could be transformed into a tent and sleeping bag.
Viviane Mirafuente, whowon the Swatch Category, added a touch of Swatch to her work—the buckle of one of her Swatch watches. The buckle represented the Swiss cable car in her bucolic scene of the Swiss alps. The scene was mounted using 2,000 pieces of assorted mini toys, including jackstones, trucks, bicycles and flowers.
The P100,000 Swiss Cultural Fund Recognition Award was won by the school that submitted the most number of entries—Technology University of the Philippines.
The Swatch & Swatch Center on Pasay Road showcased the winning works at cocktails. Souvenir Swiss loot bags were given to all the winners. The event ended with a private dinner at the Swatch House, where Billy Crawford led the toast—in French.
The dinner was attended by the Swatch Philippines family led by Mikee CojuangcoJaworski, who had ample stories for Swiss Ambassador Ivo Sieber about the Olympics international office based in Switzerland. Cojuangco-Jaworski is the committee representative to the Philippines.
Also at the dinner was Swatch Philippines creative director Rowell Santiago who egged on Raoul Imbach to sing beautiful songs about the Philippines. He sang his composition titled “Binibini” to the beautiful Coleen Garcia.
The dinner, hosted by Swatch Philippines president Virgie Ramos, was also a send-off party for Ambassador Sieber, who is winding up his term in Manila.
He was surrounded by people whose friendships he had made here, including Imbach, Ramos and Etihad Airways general manager Juan Torres.