Observations from the Road – The Philippines

My good friend, and unofficial (and kind of self-appointed) business advisor, Mr. Adam Japko, tends to toss me the most succinct little nuggets regarding my career, mostly totally out of the blue, and when I am least expecting it. Over the years I’ve learned to listen closely because he does not elaborate, just drops these jewels into our general conversation, or for instance in a one line text in the middle of someone’s presentation at the Design Influencer’s Conference – ‘Mally, you should be doing a monthly travel letter for your customers.’ Okaaaay Adam….. this text arrived while listening to the elegant and enlightening James Nord, CEO of Fohr, an influencer agency, talking about the importance of staying regularly in touch with your customers.

Adam was right, I have been moving around rather a lot these days, and I do love to share pictures and observations from my travels, so why not start a travel journal? Also, it might help with the ‘Oh, you’re here, I thought you were in South Africa/Manila/wherever??’ So here goes. I’m going to have to do this retrospectively because my stories and pictures from an amazing visit to the factory in Manila have been on serious lock down on pain of death from the Dowel PR people! I’m a bit of an oversharer as you might all know!

But finally our launch at High Point Furniture Market is over, the capsule collection is now online, we’ve been Instagrammed like crazy, so here’s the story.

My journey working with the Dowel brother and sister duo, Ray and Joanne Hallare, on our furniture line has been a most illuminating experience; it has taken me right out of my comfort zone – (how difficult can designing furniture be?? – actually extremely difficult!), and it certainly took me right out of my time zone – a solid 14 hours!

Once all the plotting and designing had been done, and 3D models had been created, Ray and Joanne thought it would be a good idea for me to come to the factory in the Philippines for some tinkering with the products and a final day photo shoot for our press kit. I am always up for a new adventure!

The first night my friends put me in a very sexy hotel in downtown Manila, which if you looked out the window could have been downtown Buckhead, Atlanta, but wait…. We were about to be in real Asia soon! So off we went on our first morning to visit the factory, see my designs and check me in to a nearby hotel. ‘You don’t want to do that commute every day Mally,’ they said – and they were right. After half an hour of tootling along on a pretty nice highway – the high-rise city disappeared and was replaced by a much more authentic scene, street vendors, jumbles of houses and simple restaurants, and quite the most amazing array of cobbled together, Jeep like vehicles you have ever seen. The American army left them behind after they saved us from the Japanese occupation I am told, and not a single one of them has gone to waste!

I quickly got the feeling that I was considered Ray and Joanne’s full responsibility, these lovely millennials had brought me to the Philippines and they were going to keep me totally in sight for the duration. I have to say it was so lovely not being in charge of anything at all, I felt just like being a big middle-aged child.  Walking into the factory on that first day with all my furniture arranged neatly for me to see as I walked in the door sort of took my breath away.

Working every day in the factory, fixing minor issues and getting to know the wonderful artisans that had worked for decades for Ray and Joanne’s dad was such a pleasure. Everyone was so kind and considerate of my time and my input. I just loved it.

Every day I was treated to a different local restaurant, they were insistent that we try all their local spots:

At, the end of every day I went back to my ‘Nantucket’ room in my local hotel and collapsed – beer for dinner and die! That day is night thing is not easy! In the morning I spotted some rather nice shells in a dish on the side of my bed, good props for the photoshoot. They were happy to lend them to us. Pilipino people are so kind and considerate.

Joanne had the Mark Hampton book in her house in Manila, how amazing is that, he is my design hero!

Next, we needed styling materials for our last day photoshoot – so we went to the local flower market, but everything was a bit orange, so we came up with a good plan – buy plants and hack them up – it worked a treat!

Next, we needed fruit for a bit of texture for our shoot – so off to the fruit market – all this is with the kind and patient driver Robert – no one seems to drive their own car, which is fine because the driving is a defensive sport in Philippines!

The most marvelous and totally odd bunch of fruit I ever did see.

Photoshoot prep was totally hilarious. By now the factory folk were now convinced that I was a little bit nuts!

But the photo results were great and the trip was so worth it. Work was over, and I wanted to explore outside the factory. Every day we passed this interesting array of little shops and food stalls, let’s take a walk, Joanne, I suggested. Joanne had never ventured out down this road before but followed gamely along, more for my protection than anything else, she was not going to lose me now! We looked back and saw that Robert the driver was also following at a discreet distance. What an entourage!

Last day before our flight and we had time to kill. Let’s play Tommy Tourist I suggested. Huh?? Blank faces! I’m going to drag you to see the local art museum and tourist sites like I do with my poor children – I think they enjoyed it……

I’m writing this as my final task before I finish my packing for High Point and our big debut. I love my work and the doors it has opened. The arc of my success is a strange one, who hits their stride at 65 years old? Who has the privilege of such dear friends and colleagues that are younger than their own children? There is no one way to live your life, the door is just as open for the stragglers and the sprinters. It’s been a whole barrel of fun but honestly, bring on the lazy daze of summer for this old gal!!

Addendum:

Since I wrote this, my year got a little crazy and it’s been sitting patiently on my computer waiting for me to slow down and get this out into the ether, more fun happened—Dowel and I launched my Dowel capsule furniture collection at our house in Lincoln and we invited all our Boston designer friends and local editors to come and help us celebrate.

Due to everyone’s very tight timing, launch was scheduled for the day right after New England Home’s Luxury Home Design Summit in Cape Cod, a totally unmissable event! I had to do both! As every good Capricorn person knows, preparation is the key, Kristen and I got the house ready early, so the show went on, the nasty cold and wet spring weather broke just in time for us to bask in the gorgeousness of the evening outside on our patio. Sarah Winchester captured the atmosphere most delightfully – Here are some of the highlights!