Good Design Award Philippines Highlights Malasakit as a Defining Character of Philippine Design Excellence

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Design as a tool for innovation, economic growth, and positive societal change

The Design Center of the Philippines is set to recognize outstanding objects-, places-, images- made and systems executed in the Philippines that address social problems to enrich the quality of human life in the inaugural run of the Good Design Award Philippines.

Good Design Award Philippines is a national design excellence recognition system that aims to promote design as a key tool in developing and providing solutions to social challenges as well as strengthen the country’s global competitiveness and increase its innovative quotient.

"Design is an innovation enabler. At a time when we face tumultuous changes on every front—from technology to economics, the environment, and our institutions—the role of design becomes increasingly critical. Thus, our efforts will not just support our design industry; it will also push design skills to develop design-driven organizations and innovative industries. It will even help us transform the public sector," said Department of Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez.

"The most meaningful designs, creative works, and innovations are those that solve social problems, not just design for design’s sake. We want to promote a culture of design and innovation that can serve as higher-value services that our country can be known for,” Sec. Lopez added.

The design excellence recognition system is in support of AmBisyon Natin 2040 through the Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022, specifically its development strategies on ‘Promoting Philippine Cultures and Values,’ ‘Vigorously Advancing Science, Technology, and Innovation,’ and ‘Expanding Economic Opportunities in Industry and Services through Trabaho and Negosyo.’

For Design Center executive director Maria Rita O. Matute, the Good Design Award Philippines adds more value to design as a driver of economic growth and innovation. It pushes for a design excellence that is impact-driven, providing design solutions that address human needs and societal challenges to protect future generations and secure a more livable society for them.

"We envision Good Design Award Philippines to be one of the platforms through which Design Center nurtures the Philippines’ culture of design excellence,” Matute explains. “Aside from innovation and economic growth, we want to elevate design as a powerful tool that creates positive societal change, making the world a better place for all and future generations. This too then echoes a strong challenge to designers to act as catalysts and powerful agents of change—to improve the quality of human lives through objects, places, images and systems; through sustainable and inclusive businesses, and through responsible governance.” 

Malasakit as a PH brand of design excellence

With the creative industries, particularly the design sector, steadily emerging as a driver of national competitiveness, the Philippines’ neighboring countries in the Southeast Asian region likewise invest in their respective design industries, encouraging a prolific design culture by recognizing good design across sectors.

Good Design Award Philippines shares in the same objective as it aims to build a strong community of global Philippine designers from across industries and disciplines, and to promote the significance of design in uplifting lives, while pushing for a nation brand of design excellence that is particular to the Philippines.

“What the Good Design Award Philippines brings to the fore of the global design industry is the Philippines’ unique approach to design excellence,” Matute remarks. “The Philippines is a nation with innate creativity; we are malikhain by nature. But what really sets Philippine design apart is the malasakit that is embodied in our design solutions, whether it be a product, place, image or system.”

Malasakit, or closely translated in English as compassion, is the sympathetic consciousness of other’s distress and acting to alleviate it. Matute points out that the Good Design Award Philippines boldly puts this specific Philippine value as an additional pillar to the traditional parameters of good design—innovation, form, and function.

“It is the impact of these design solutions to a social concern or basic human need that distinguishes Philippine design from the rest. While we recognize the significance of functionality, form, and innovation in good design, ours is not solely defined by these principles. Philippine good design is an equal part equation of the principles of good design and malasakit,” Matute discusses, emphasizing that malasakit is the Philippines’ contribution to the global design discourse.

Matute cites as example the four homegrown products and service that were recognized in Japan’s Good Design Award-ASEAN Design Selection in 2018.

SALt Lamp is an emergency lamp specially designed to give lighting support to marginalized island communities without the burden of complex tool mechanism, in line with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7 on access to affordable and clean energy. With its human centered design, SALt lamp received the highest response in the visitor and consumer survey among the 22 designs in the ASEAN Design Selection special exhibition in Tokyo, Japan.

Make a Difference (MAD) Travel offers social tourism tour packages that afford Aeta communities in San Felipe, Zambales sustainable living while tackling SDGs 1, 2, and 3 on No

Poverty, Zero Hunger and Good Health and Well-being. Moreover, MAD Travel encourages tourists and guests to aid in their goal of planting a 3,000 hectare forest, which is in line with SDGs 13 and 15 on Climate Action and Life on Land.

Red Palm Ventures’ banana stalk wallpapers is geared towards the empowerment of women in a community in San Pablo, Laguna through livelihood, and addresses Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12 on Responsible Production and Consumption through the optimal use of banana stalks.

Likewise, Bambike’s Bambino balance bike reinforces SDG 12 as well through the use of the highly abundant bamboos in their production, and SDG 8 on Decent Work and Economic Growth by providing livelihood to the Bambuilders (bamboo builders) of a Gawad Kalinga Community in Victoria, Tarlac.

Malasakit as a mark of good design

The Good Design Award Philippines has its criteria the principles of good design--innovativeness, form, and functionality—plus malasakit, which will be evaluated based on design solution’s impact on the 17 SDGs listed by the United Nations.

The inclusion of malasakit in the criteria carry the Philippine value beyond simply a quality of Philippine good design; it shows how local innovations can also impact on global challenges. From a community level of compassion, Philippine design sees itself committed as well to developing solutions on a much larger perspective.

Matute expounds that perceiving Philippine design in a wider picture adds to the commitment of nurturing a culture of design excellence in the country. “By understanding that design impacts a bigger cause than one’s self or one’s community, you would naturally want to come up with the best ideas and solutions because you become responsible to a larger matter,” she adds.


Good Design Award Philippines

The Good Design Award accepts entries from Philippine-registered enterprises, designers, and creatives from both private and public sectors with fully realized and/or executed products or systems in the design disciplines of object making (furniture, furnishing, décor; fashion accessories; mobility; and material innovation); image making (packaging, and communication); place making (architecture, and interior architecture); and service/system design.

Winners will be evaluated in a two-step screening process by a jury composed of thirteen multidiscipline and industry-respected individuals, including the private sector representatives of the Design Advisory Council (DAC).

Winning entries can be awarded the Good Design Philippines Red and Gold Awards based on the judging criteria, while the Good Design Philippines Green Award will recognize the entry with the most impact on SDGs related to environment and sustainability. The Gran Prix for Good Design Award Philippines is the Orange Award, and it will be awarded to the design that makes the greatest impact and contribution to the attainment of the United Nations SDGs.

Entries can be submitted until 15 August 2019. For more information on Good Design Award Philippines, please visit https://designcenter.ph/good-design-award-ph.

More than 3,000 Remote Surigao del Sur Households Now Connected to cCean, Sustainable Water Source

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Dayjo a carinderia owner, was close to shutting down her small business due to unstable water supply, in the process risking the jobs of her staff, the schooling of her children, and the daily needs of her family.

Like Dayjo, residents of Cagwait municipality in Surigao del Sur would struggle to get clean water to their households especially during the dry season. Unfortunately, the local water concessionaire could not deliver enough water to the community, so residents had to collect rainwater, treat murky water from artesian wells, and carry buckets of water into their homes every day to fulfill their daily water needs.

Cagwait, being an agriculture-based community, relies heavily on water. The municipality produces rice, coconut, corn and other cash crops, and vegetables. The water needs of the agricultural and other economic activities of the municipality are served by the local utility, Aras-asan/Unidad Rural Waterworks & Sanitation Association, Inc. (AURWSA). AURWSA in turn sources the water from Tambacan Creek and Tabon-tabon Creek, which have a combined capacity of only 315 cubic meters, which is inadequate to serve the needs of Cagwait’s two barangays.

The Peace and Equity Foundation (PEF), together with the Coca-Cola Foundation, started to work with AURWSA in 2007 to develop another water source by the Camuning Creek, a body of water upstream of the Tambacan creek to stabilize Cagwait’s water supply and expand their services to another community, Barangay Tubo-Tubo, which covers more than 500 households. PEF also helped AURWSA repair and build additional infrastructure to the water system, including a mini dam, filtration box, transmission and distribution water pipes, main meter, valves, chlorinator, and water tanks. AURWSA’s new water system can now serve the needs of the community for another 10 years.

Apart from upgrading the communities’ waterworks, PEF provided installation and training for billing and accounting systems, entrepreneurship management, and water quality management to AURWSA’s management and personnel.

Having now an improved water system, AURSWA has taken the additional step of conserving the watershed. They have held regular activities that center on forest-farming, protecting the existing vegetation, and mitigating the effects of human activity in the watershed.

With the help of PEF, at least 3,000 residents from barangays Aras-asan, Unidad and Tubo-tubo are now assured to have a safe, stable, and clean water source for their homes and enterprises for the next decade.

“This small business is crucial to our survival. Not just our family, but also to our staff who works with us. With the stable water source, we can operate smoothly and we are assured that it is safe and clean to service our needs and our customers,” said Dayjo.

PEF has invested close to PHP 200 million in various water projects alone since its founding in 2001, and has partnered with civil society and community organizations to provide safe and affordable water to over 450,000 households across the nation.

“We are firm about the sustainability of all the projects we engage in. We highly value the community response and participation. After all, the projects we help build are meant to serve the community,” said PEF Executive Director Roberto Calingo. “Providing basic services to poor communities in the country has been our long-standing advocacy and commitment to Filipino families.”

Lamudi Affordable Housing Fair

Wazzup Pilipinas!

For its second installment this year, Lamudi is bringing its Lamudi Affordable Housing Fair to the Glorietta Activity Center this July 20 to 21, 2019. Aside from bringing together individuals and groups from all ends of the real estate industry, with top property developers, property buyers, financials and government institutions participating, Lamudi Affordable Housing Fair in Glorietta will offer property seekers a unique opportunity to choose from an extensive selection of real estate. The event will also be a great opportunity for industry professionals to elevate their footing in the industry through the various learning opportunities in store at the event.

The Lamudi Affordable Housing Fair in Glorietta follows the successful housing fair that was held in TriNoma last April 6 and 7, 2019, which was attended by more than 3,000 property seekers and brokers. The exhibitors were SMDC, Aspire by Filinvest, Futura by Filinvest, Prestige by Filinvest, The Hauslands, Amiya Raya, Taft Properties, Robinsons Communities, BPI Family Housing Loan, Grand Monaco, Ortigas & Company, Phinma Properties, Pag-IBIG Fund, Sandari Batulao, and Suntrust. The Subdivision and Housing Developers Association, Inc. (SHDA) was the official Event Partner with Media Partners Business World, Business Mirror, Malaya, Inquirer, and Philippine Star.

On top of the affordable property selections, there are a lot more in store for property seekers during the two-day event.

Free Home Buying Seminar

Like previous Lamudi housing fairs, there will be a free home buying seminar for aspiring homeowners and real estate investors to be conducted by the experts. Knowing the right way to approach this all-too-important process of home buying is going to help homebuyers tread it with great ease.

Property Discounts and an Auction

For those who are looking for more affordable options, Lamudi Housing Fair in Glorietta will also host an auction. On top of that, property buyers who will attend the housing fair will also be treated to freebies and exclusive discounts they won’t find elsewhere.

Real estate professionals will also find attending the housing fair to their advantage.

Optimizing lead generation channels

Online real estate marketing experts from Lamudi Academy will teach attending real estate brokers and agents on how to make the most out of the various digital channels that today’s property buyers are exploring through the Top Online Lead Generation Channels course. The course will give you the low down on each digital channel and will provide tips on how you can use them to your advantage.

Harnessing the power of Lamudi

As the number one real estate platform in the country today, the Lamudi Academy coaches will also teach you how to make the most of Lamudi. Lamudi is a trusted brand and learning how to use this to your advantage will ensure that homebuyers trust you and a step to selling them your property listings.

Aside from learning valuable insights through these courses, you will also get the chance to network with other real estate professionals and potential property buyers. The best part of all is—attendance and the trainings are all free of charge!

Networking opportunity

Apart from the free online real estate marketing lessons courtesy of Lamudi Academy, Lamudi Housing Fair in Glorietta will also be a convergence of the biggest players in the local property sector—from property developers, financing institutions, and government agencies—as well other real estate professionals that might all contribute to your own body of knowledge.

Continued local orientation

With the prominence of digital as the primary search avenue for property seekers, the value of personal interactions and the building and maintaining of relationships between real estate professionals and their clients will continue to be invaluable Potential buyers will eventually want to speak with a broker or agent and see a property in person.

According to Lamudi’s visitor data for 2018, property seekers from Makati account for the second largest market of visitors, as well in leads. This means there are a sizable number of users in the city who repeatedly went on the website to look for property, and are also more likely to drop by the housing fair to further explore the real estate options available to them.

In addition to this is the substantial amount of foot traffic typically seen on weekends in the Glorietta, from mall-goers who won’t miss the sight of the Lamudi Housing Fair.

Some of the developers and financial institutions that will be exhibiting their offerings are SMDC, Lancaster New City by ProFriends, Federal Land, DMCI Homes, BPI Family Housing Loan, Aboitiz Land, Grand Monaco, PA Properties, Megaworld Prime RFO, Camella Homes, Polintan - Agpasa Engineering and Architectural Design, UnionBank Credit Cards, Phinma Properties, Calmar Land Development Corporation, Aspire by Filinvest, RCD Land, CDC Holdings, Inc., Futura Homes by Filinvest, and Food Panda.

SMDC is a Premium Sponsor. The event’s Major Sponsors are Lancaster New City by ProFriends and Federal Land. DMCI Homes, BPI Family Housing Loan, Aboitiz Land, and Food Panda are Minor Sponsors.