Soon after his snap decision, he brought his feng shui expert over to his home-to-be and remarkably, she asked Tim if he’d consulted anyone before her as every aspect and element was perfectly aligned. As Tim explains, “The house faced the South East—the dragon direction, which was lucky.” Of course, he hadn’t and it had all serendipitously come together on a gut feel. That was that for Tim.

Construction was to commence early 2015 and right before breaking ground, Tim requested Maricel and Anthony Pangilinan together with a bunch of his famous neighbours to pray over the lot. In fact, the Mahogany enclave certainly has no shortage of fun and friendly star power as the couple can now count good friends Victor and Maggie Wilson Consunji, Marc Nelson, Rovilson Fernandez, Bianca King, and Ian and Joey Mead King as their neighbours, rendering the big “adulting” move all the more appealing.

Right around the Christmas of 2016 saw the completion of the three-bedroom, four-storey townhouse. Tim had to get his ducks in row and top of mind for this project was another dear and very talented friend of the couple, the architect, visual artist, and serious art collector, Juan Carlo Calma. Better known for his fine dining restaurant-cum-art showcase, Gallery VASK and Manifesto Gallerie, Calma has left his trademark imprint across the board from architectural works, to bespoke private homes to public installations.

“I love Carlo’s sense of space and playfulness and that he has a different way of looking at things. When I work with him, there are no limits. I like to work with people whose imagination knows no bounds. It’s funny because when he was initially looking at the interiors and exteriors, he wanted to make it minimalist,” Tim shares, recalling the irony. Anyone who knows Tim Yap would find the humour in connecting anything minimalistic with the larger-than-life style icon.

As expected, three months after their preliminary talks, the home, as Tim, describes it, was maximalist. In short, Calma provided the canvas on which Tim could plot out his every creative move. “But look!” backtracks Tim, motioning around to his Yaparazzi’d environs, “I found my balance! My furniture, artwork, statement pieces, and accessories—they all found a harmonious common ground!”

More than guiding Tim on his somewhat “excessive tendencies,” the all-important mission that Calma had to see through was to give Tim his dream “moon” house. “Years ago, I told Carlo that when the time w as right, and I got my own house, I wanted a ‘Man on the Moon’ house; a cylindrical house that would glow like the moon and when I step out onto my balcony, I would literally be the man on the moon, ” shares Tim. “Everything here are lunar interpretations of Carlo,” says Tim, gesturing around the space.

Building a story around Tim’s alter ego of being the man on the moon, Calma applied a grey palette throughout the space. On the ground floor, the concept comes to life with one-of-a-kind pieces and detailing such as a statement circular main front door fashioned from metal peppered with chrome dots and punctuated by a contrasting ‘TY’ monogram door handle.

Calma then had a grey, organic, curlicue-shaped sofa commissioned (suggesting a lunar landscape) which sits on a carpet by Tai Ping for which Tim sketched the design. A standout piece is the Leeroy New sculpture, which dear art connoisseur friend, Miguel Rosales, dubbed “The Yapalazzo.” The timing of the installation was rather apropos being that Tim had just returned from a trip to Africa where he’d bungee jumped for the very first time. While Rosales had his own name for the hanging astronaut, New named the guy “Masayang Messiah,” or “fun saviour.” “I like that when I look at my things, they connote something personal to me or recreate a happy memory,” says Tim, adding, “When I look at that guy mid jump, it symbolises a leap of faith for me.”

Up on the rooftop and further expanding on the theme, Calma suggested a hanging metal sculpture, which, in his words, is a kind of play on a meteor clock reader. For this, they commissioned metal sculptor Jinggoy Buensuceso, who, initially was supposed to make Tim a spiral staircase to lead to the topmost floor. “Instead of the stairway, he made me a constellation—a graphic interpretation of a solar system with planets and numbers in bronze. I look at it like taking the stairway to my higher self, where I meditate, communicate with nature, and say my prayers,” explains Tim. Facing this intricate meteorological display is an Egg Fiasco mural, which looks like a trippy screenshot of an intergalactic scene.

With no particular room or nook being a favourite, the animal lover, alternatively, spends time everywhere, splitting his time between the four domains or “territories” of his four “kids:” his two pooches, Panda and Gigi, and his kitties Pringles (Tim’s shy and rather anti-social cat) and his latest addition Percival (“or Valentino—I don’t know what to call him yet!” says Tim with a chuckle). The one sweet spot, for Tim, however, is his “wing” chair by Carlo Tanseco located on the second floor surrounded by an eclectic miscellany of edgy artworks and chotskies. “This is where I think and plan,” he shares.

Of their three bedrooms, Tim converted one into his walk-in closet and another into a home office for Martinez. “Javi occupies the office and ‘work space’ more. He is definitely minimalist and always stops me from purchases I don’t need. There’s yin and yang at play here; he balances out my need to acquire and spend,” he professes. Their master bedroom is very Zen with a simple bed buried under a mountain of pillows. A portrait of Tim by Omar Flores hangs at the back. “The design and vibe quiets the mind and enables me to be more productive the next day,” says Tim of his place of rest.

Adding to his collection of contemporary Filipino works (his favourites are by [painters] Andres Barrioquinto and Ronald Ventura and [sculptors] Daniel de la Cruz and Leeroy New) is a trippy Willy Wonka-style striped door from his old apartment’s master bedroom, which Calma ably curated into the mix. Says Tim, “The walls of my last home were all prints and patterns so I couldn’t hang any artwork there. I’ve only gotten to enjoy these in my new home.”

Adding to his collection of contemporary Filipino works (his favourites are by [painters] Andres Barrioquinto and Ronald Ventura and [sculptors] Daniel de la Cruz and Leeroy New) is a trippy Willy Wonka-style striped door from his old apartment’s master bedroom, which Calma ably curated into the mix. Says Tim, “The walls of my last home were all prints and patterns so I couldn’t hang any artwork there. I’ve only gotten to enjoy these in my new home.”

Where the similarities between Calma’s and Tim’s aesthetics lie, however, are in that they both like the whimsy and the element of surprise. “When we were designing it together,” shares Calma, “I told him now’s your chance to go minimalist but I guess he couldn’t help it. He is just very maximal at heart. The spaces really work, though, and they show his personality. Every time he travelled, he brought back a piece for his house and I think that is part of the idea that you grow through time with your home. It may start with just the basics, but through time you bring bits and pieces of your stories and memories.” 

Sure, while Tim and Javi have loftily found their way to and staked their claim on the moon, the chameleon in Tim is still grounded in that perhaps there’s always room for change. “There’s no such thing as a dream home,” he says, “Your dream home, it’s evolving—just like you. I love that we started with a blank canvas, an empty shell, and I lovingly filled it up with things and memories. Then as time went by, I felt more at home in my home. As you evolve, your home evolves with you.”

Concludes Calma: “It’s [a] very personal and very Yaparazzi world! And that world will definitely keep on changing!”

Originally published in a 2018 edition of Tatler Homes Philipines, which is now available in all leading newsstands and bookstores, and downloadable via Magzter, Zinio, or PressReader.