Cover Jet Acuzar being interviewed as the incoming Tatler Homes Editor at the Tatler Homes Design Awards 2024
Jet Acuzar being interviewed as the incoming Tatler Homes Editor at the Tatler Homes Design Awards 2024
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Incoming Tatler Homes editor Jet Acuzar on exploring the diverse ways Filipinos express their cultural identity through their homes
Beautiful, moving and evocative homes, remarkable lives and talented creatives who allow for these to exist are the elements which I hope fill our pages at Tatler Homes Philippines. We hope our efforts broadly inform readers what Filipino sensibilities are in design then and now. In consequence, to answer the question of whether a quintessential Filipino style at home exists is one I hope to address. After all, our built environment is the ultimate physical manifestation of what lies within.
We are at a moment where Filipino creativity in various arenas are finally gaining mainstream global recognition. Having said that, the immeasurable value in showcasing the many ways in which the Filipino lives at home is key to understanding this moment. For many Filipinos, everything begins at home, and the saying ‘everyone knows everyone’ couldn't ring more true. As such, I hope we can explore the nuance and peculiarity of how many of us live in this very closely knit community that we call home. As a culture that loves to fiesta, the way we design and decorate our realities is often a kind of visual feast that reflects our love of gathering.
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Above Jet Acuzar onstage as the incoming Tatler Homes Editor at the Tatler Homes Design Awards 2024
Jet Acuzar onstage as the incoming Tatler Homes Editor at the Tatler Homes Design Awards 2024
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Diving into the DNA of Tatler, the world’s first and oldest social media, one essentially rooted in human interest, was definitely top of mind when I took on this role. Among the questions I wish to pose to our readers include the following. Firstly, 'is this home interesting because its occupants are interesting?' Followed by, 'or does this interesting home make those that reside in it, interesting people?' In a sense, we hope to examine why people live in the homes they live in, and what is inside these homes. Answering the question of how we arrive at the decisions that create our built environment is one I am very interested in.
Fully embracing the human aspect of design is something I hope to develop at Tatler Homes. Extending the story beyond the structure and delving into the soul of a particular space is what we aim to do. For what is design if not personal choice? Objects in our homes speak volumes about us in ways words never could in a kind of emotional resonance. These pieces become chosen participants and witnesses, part and parcel of our personal histories.
Above Jet Acuzar onstage as the incoming Tatler Homes Editor at the Tatler Homes Design Awards 2024
Jet Acuzar onstage as the incoming Tatler Homes Editor at the Tatler Homes Design Awards 2024
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While many of us now work from home, over the years of being a stay at home wife and mother, I learned how to make my home work for me. I began by documenting tablescapes and corners of my home, reusing all sorts of things I had. The point was always to harness as much value as I could out of whatever thing I bought for my home.
It is this same resourcefulness that is innately Filipino, that I would really love to share. In sharing the numerous stories of creatives who live here, and overseas, we hope to forge a clearer identity and build a kind of map to see where we could be going. Subsequently, presenting how those who have come to adopt the Philippines as their home interpret design after living in a culture like ours is a point no less salient, and no less Filipino.
In case you missed it: Storied Stitches: What we need to know about Philippine embroidery
Above Jet Acuzar delivering her speech at the Tatler Homes Design Awards 2024
Jet Acuzar delivering her speech at the Tatler Homes Design Awards 2024
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Looking into how we fit into a Southeast Asian identity is another topic of great interest. Travels around the region reveal our shared visual language. While we speak different words, our architectural design vernacular and codes share a great many similarities. Whether that is a result of congruent climates or a wider pre and post-colonial history, or if indeed Asean was once one country, is a question one can spend the whole day speculating about. It is interesting to see echoes of history embedded in our structures, objects and furniture. These linkages offer a hopeful message that there is more that unites than divides us, and perhaps together, our creative industries will be stronger.
The hope is to embrace readers in a way that moves and inspires them to consider different ideas, artfully arrange objects, and create homes that speak to their personal truths. It is my hope to share practical and purposeful information to our readers, looking to tradition but with a keen eye on how technology has forever changed the way we build and buy.
It is my hope you join us as we meet the maker, deep dive and demystify concepts and prejudices attached to design. One of the notions we wish to challenge, is the idea that one needs great wealth in order to create great interiors. Instead, we’d love to feature how creatively considered homes and spaces add value to properties. An argument one could posit is that design choices can in fact add value to spaces, in ways that obvious logos and objects associated with affluence cannot.
Above The Tatler Homes Team with Managing Director Irene Martel Francisco, previous editors Mia Borromeo and Stephanie Zubiri, and writer Celine Dabao
The Tatler Homes Team with Managing Director Irene Martel Francisco, previous editors Mia Borromeo and Stephanie Zubiri, and writer Celine Dabao
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At Tatler Philippines, I hope to follow in the footsteps of Stephanie Zubiri and Mia Borromeo under the guidance of Mrs. Irene Martel-Francisco in the contributions they have made to Philippine lifestyle and design.
One of my favourite adages, ‘part of the furniture’ is something I say often to describe many friends whom I regularly host dinners for at home. Likewise, it is my hope that copies of Tatler Homes will one day become a literal ‘part of the furniture’ in your home too. We wish to invite you to join us as a community of people passionate about the home. I hope you enjoy our stories and articles.
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