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Rustic Assemblage - Johnson & Laudico Homes
Tropical Living Coffee Table Book
December 2000
Modern artist-turned-craftswoman, Yola Perez Johnson has created a rustic but gracious home from such natural materials as bamboo, abaca, and rattan, a garden space, and a lively imagination. Re-designing the basement of an ordinary apartment in a rambling 1950s Makati house and utilizing its best asset-a spacious backyard-has been a labor of love. Today, she and her husband live in what were the servants' quarters, and nurture the spirit of the old mansion with Nature's own materials. Similarly, when Yola's architect daughter, Popi Laudico, moved out - with just one aparador, one bed, and a collection of paintings by Roberto Chabet, Jonathan Olazo, and Tam Austria - she reinterpreted her mother's abaca fiber arts in her new 95 sq-m, two level loft. The result is an equally spirited living space.
The Johnsons' small sala is a rustic black-and-white suite dressed in French doors, abaca woven curtains, and Yola's creative touch with textures and textiles. A wide collection of "primitive" ebony-black furniture from the Philippine Cordillera is fitted in white ramie upholstery and ivory silken throw pillows All around are baskets from the Cordillera or ceramic bowls of interesting seeds or pods; design magazines; and abstract modern artworks by Roberto Chabet. The dining room comprises a modern-minimalist two-piece table made old dark and rare supa wood; crowned by a fantasy candelabra that is lit by tea lights. A vibrant red abstract (above) by Roberto Chabet hangs over a dark table made of rare supa wood.
Popi Laudico's new flat is fashioned with the same attention to detail as her mother's. Gauzy abaca weave curtains drape the east-facing windows, and also act as "walls" that delineate the spaces within. The "living room" is a wide expanse of thick woven abaca carpet defined by the drapes and veils of abaca separating it from the "dining area." The furniture is ethnic, minimal and modern-three soot-black chairs from the Cordillera. Says Popi of her artistic abaca atelier: "The translucent layers delineate the space, without compartmentalizing it. And they let me feel secure -like being under a kulambo (mosquito net)."
