Budji Layug’s work undergoes a logical progression after his bamboo furniture, modern furniture, interior design, and architecture.
This is an excerpt from Lifestyle Asia’s July 2023 Issue.
Antonio “Budji” Layug is a Filipino designer known for his luxurious, country homes and sleek, city villas that seamlessly integrate the surrounding landscape or garden. His lofty, minimalist spaces often use natural materials for a wabisabi feel. In this sense, Layug‘s design is tropical, if not Asian.
Budji is the third among eight children. His mother Hermina Cancio-Layug, was a partner of Cancio Associates, Inc., known in the industry for its design and furniture manufacturing and together with her brother Augustin Cancio and Edith Oliveros, they established the Philippine School of Interior Design (PSID) in 1967. Budji graduated from New York School of Interior Design and enrolled in the University of Santo Tomas College of Architecture in the 1960s but left earlier to continue his adventures in Europe.
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While in London, he enrolled at Vidal Sassoon Academy and studied hairstyling and eventually opened his Manila salon, Budjiwara. He later went into furniture designing. In the 1980s, he launched his Budji Giant Bamboo Collection in the USA and had showrooms in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Hawaii. Later on, branded as Budji Living, he continued having showrooms in Manila and Bangkok.
A logical progression after his bamboo furniture, modern furniture, interior design and architecture, he has now branched into fine art. Enter the Dreamscape was the title of his last one-man-show held at Leon Gallery, Makati City. 34 paintings, almost all painted this year, exhibited an energy and vigor that belie his years. The almost sold-out exhibition emphasizes this success.
The artworks startle with their large scale, vibrant color and thick, impasto texture. Filipino subject matters such as cock fighters (sabong) or lush mangroves are revisited with calligraphic gestures and spontaneity.
Read more by purchasing a copy of the Lifestyle Asia July 2023 magazine via SariSari.shopping or select newsstands in National Bookstore and Fully Booked. Subscribe to the E-Magazine via Readly, Magzter, and Press Reader.
Photos courtesy of Pepper Teehankee.
