This summer 2011, I went to different provinces in the Philippines. I was amused by the various interior designs in wood with the amazing unique imagination of their designers. Wood is really a great relaxing sight in edifices and a great break from the usual tiring sights of the city concrete jungle. I hope you enjoy this short showcase in wood. By the way, the photo above is a wooden dining set in a posh restaurant in Tagaytay.
The beauty of wood is that it reminds you of nature, and thus of the goodness of God. And all that amounts in one's soul refreshment. Concrete reminds you of man's technology. Well, sometimes, that's also nice to remember, but then you also think of how man's technology has been destroying ecology and nature and how an all-concrete city landscape has turned our metropolis into a huge oven.
Then you see wood in a design, and it immediately refreshes your mind like you get a good splash of cool mountain spring water on your face. The beauty of wood really evokes mental relaxation in you. Thus, when I see a sightful showcase in wood I have the tendency to give it a good look and even turn my head to look at it more. Like when we were in Tagaytay and there were these makeshift shops of wooden furniture along the road. Simply fascinating!
An amazing showcase in wood backgrounded in a scene of nature is even better. I was captivated by the scene above and had it taken--a wooden mountain cabin overlooking a background scene of Taal lake and adjacent hills. The sight helped you quickly switch to a pensive mood.
There was this rest room in one of Tagaytay's businesses we saw that featured a small manual water pump on its lavatory instead of a usual modern faucet. It was simply amazing. I wish to have something like that in my kitchen and bathroom. The lavatory itself was like one of those China wares my mom and grandma used to keep in their China cabinet. All around the room were wood designs reminding you of rustic settings.
And then there was this ceiling design made of rough but varnished tree branches placed horizontally like grills covering the ceiling. It was simple and yet it easily suggested an exotic ambiance. The side railings were also of rough but varnished branches, and the whole place overlooked some mountains in Tagaytay.
If you'd look at the dining table and chairs in the picture above, they are heavy, thick planks of wooden timber, polished and varnished. The effect was a wonderful appetite for grilled native food menus and natural fruit drinks, although the latter was not available. So we settled on bottled mineral water.
But this is not to say that wood is only good for a rustic and rural look. Wood also goes well with modern design, as we enjoyed it in our stay in one of Tagaytay's posh conference hotels--what I call Confetels. One look and the overall design made us feel at ease, ready to plunge on the cushioned beds. The darkly varnished wood furnishings matched with the light colors of the room. It created a light ambiance suggesting that you forget about the job you left behind in the city for a while.
Umm, that's my Word disciple, Toots, wondering why I was taking pictures of the toilet entrance. The rest room was comfy enough and the inserted study nook in the picture was perfect for conference delegates. Oh, and yes, I was delighted to see the wooden cabinet that smelled of mountain pines.
Wood is charming, more so when treated with artistic finesse. We should appreciate its quality more and apply it in Pinoy architecture designs, of course with a mind to continually preserving our forests. With structural members embedded in concrete or in ceilings and which are hidden from our sights, we need to opt for steel design. But with design elements naked to the eyes, we need to consider more the elegance of solid, polished wood.
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