A multi-awarded furniture designer Kenneth Cobonpue

Kenneth Cobonpue is a multi-awarded  furniture designer and manufacturer from Cebu. He graduated in Industrial Design from Pratt Institute in New York with highest honors and subsequently worked in Italy and Germany. Integrating locally sourced materials with innovative handmade production procceses, Cobonpue's brand is known around the world for its unique designs and roster of clientele that include Hollywood celebrities like Brad Pitt and members of royalty.

Awards to his credit include 5 Japan Good Design Awards, the grand prize at the Singapore International Design Competition, the Design for Asia Award of Hongkong, the American Society of Interior Design Top Pick selection and the French Coup de Coeur award.  Several of his designs were selected for several editions of the International Design Yearbook published in London and New York. Phaidon’s book entitled "& FORK" underscores Kenneth's position as a leader of a new movement incorporating new technologies with crafts. He has appeared on European television, countless international magazines and  newspapers around the world. Various Cobonpue designs have also appeared in full-length feature films and television such as Oceans 13 and CSI.

Kenneth reveals new work each year in design shows from Paris to New York. He also speaks regularly about Southeast Asian design all over the world. In 2007, TIME magazine called him "rattans first virtuoso".

It was not the childhood dream of Cobonpue to become a furniture designer. “I wanted to do something creative. I really didn’t think about furniture. When I was just starting out, I just wanted to be a designer. Nothing in particular,” he shared.

Born and based in Cebu, he said his family used to have a furniture factory at the back of their house. As a child, he would always go there, pick up pieces of wood and start building small structures. “I worked with my hands,” he added.

Cobonpue’s mother, Betty, was also a furniture designer, whom he considers his first inspiration. She was famous for creating new techniques in working with rattan. She experimented with different materials, such as rattan, metal, terra cotta, brass and copper. Despite all the local recognitions his mother received, she was never recognized for her designs abroad. It pains him as a son.

Cobonpue is more than proud of his country, which is why he has decided to stay. “I’ve gone to China and Malaysia to see if I could produce my things there. But it’s only here where my ideas can turn out the way I really want them to, and that is largely because of the skills of our people,” he said.

“When it comes to skills, we’re second to none in Asia. We make beautiful things that we can truly call our own. That is what I want to accomplish with my pieces. I always carry that Filipino spirit and have it resonate through my work.”

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