Their first episode is about a spacious, two-story penthouse.
“So, interior design is glam work, but it has its share of dirty works,” says Ivy Almario says in the first episode of their YouTube channel Atelier Almario, which is named after their design studio.
“More! More share of dirty works I would say!” her sister Cynthia chimes in, “It’s like, really, 90 percent hard work and 10 percent installation, right?”
The two—Ivy as design director and Cynthia as creative director—go back and forth in the first episode, which is titled “Penthouse” and launched last weekend. In it, they share their creative process and all the hard work that goes into making spaces beautiful.
“You know I really appreciate that I’m able to bounce ideas off you,” Cynthia tells her sister. “‘Cause it’s really hard if you have all these choices and nobody tells you what to choose. Or I have a choice and nobody validates it for me.”
“And someone who can also be painfully honest with you, right?” Ivy adds.
Though officially founded in 1995, Atelier Almario studio’s origins started in California, where the sisters spent their formative years honing their craft and talent for designing high-end residentials before returning to Manila to establish the design firm.
Over the next two decades, Atelier Almario would go on to amass an impressive clientele featuring a who’s who of the visionaries and titans of the Philippine industry but it is the quality of their residential work that catapulted them to the forefront of commercial design. Their work can be seen in some of Manila’s busiest and most successful bars, restaurants, and hotels.
The first episode has them showing the Primea Penthouse, which they share is a project given to them in collaboration with architect Alfred Wieneke. “The client, when we met him, gave us, actually, carte blanche,” Ivy says, happily.
“At the onset of the project,” Cynthia shares in a previous piece for Lifestyle Asia, “we interview our clients to find out how they live, how they interact with each other, what are their priorities, what are their non-negotiables, and we build from there.”
As more episodes are released, the two will share more examples of their residential projects. Along the way, they will share their insights on interior design, interior architecture, style, and choosing furniture all to tell a story through space.
Ivy and Cynthia hope their videos will encourage people to think about and appreciate the design process and share their love and passion for interior design.
