kenneth cobonpue

Kenneth Cobonpue has always gravitated towards the natural. While completing his Industrial Design degree at Pratt Institute in New York in the late 80s, he apprenticed for a leather and wood workshop near Florence Italy. He also studied furniture marketing and production in Reutlingen Germany. He returned home to the Philippines in 1996 to manage Interior Craft of the Islands Inc; a company founded by his mother.

What Cobonpue did next was something rather special; he took ‘modern design’ in a completely new direction by incorporating natural fibres and materials in its production. The result was a much warmer, human aesthetic than the sleek glass, steel and concrete surfaces we had been used to. Cobonpue became the first designer from the Philippines using the techniques of his homeland.

Over the years Cobonpue has won a swag of awards including: Five Japan Good Design Awards, the Grand Prize at the Singapore International Design Competition, the Design for the Asia Award of Hong Kong, the American Society of Interior Design Top Pick selection, the French Coup de Coeur Award and the Maison&Objet Asia 2014 Designer of the Year 2014.