Millionaires’ bangles in gold. Photo by Neal Oshima.

Davao-based Movement 8 designer Ann Tiukinhoy Pamintuan is proof that creativity knows no bounds and one can be as adept with large metal furniture pieces as one is with bangles, rings, belts, and other small fashion accessories.

In Pamintuan’s hands, the roots of the millionaires’ vines, coconut twigs, tree bark, and leaves of the ginkgo tree are immortalized in gold, silver, and copper. On display at the Yuchengco Museum until May 10, these extraordinary accessories are part of the AnnTiu.Alchemy exhibit marking the formal launch of Pamintuan’s jewelry line.

Mango bangle. Photo by Neal Oshima.

Pamintuan’s artistic journey comes full circle in this exhibit, as the globally recognized Filipina furniture designer goes back to her beginnings: jewelry.

Nature as her playground
“I did not deliberately set out to pursue an artistic career,” says Pamintuan of her beginnings as a designer. Finding herself idle, the housewife got busy embroidering clothes for her daughter and making belts and bags for her sister in New York.

After signing up for a weeklong seminar in electroplating, Pamintuan got excited over the possibilities of what she could create, being fascinated with the fusion of organic material and metal. “I started electroplating leaves, roots, and flowers in gold, silver, and copper, and that’s how my jewelry line was born,” she relates.

Rice necklace in gold. Photo by Neal Oshima.

From there, she moved on to tabletop accessories such as bowls and vases. “It was after I successfully plated a termite-eaten piece of wood that I knew I could venture into sculpture,” says Pamintuan, who is the first Asian female designer to be included in the prestigious International Design Yearbook (2002). Her furniture pieces have received design awards in New York, London, Moscow, Sweden, and Japan.

Pamintuan’s fine craftsmanship is astounding, especially as this business graduate had not taken any formal classes in art (unless ikebana lessons qualify as such). Growing up in Surigao, she reveled in the colors, shapes, and textures of trees and flowers. Perhaps, she says, it is her innate adventurous streak that strengthened her design philosophy. Being unschooled, she says, has its advantage: “I simply do it, letting my spirit move me!” she says.

In AnnTiu.Alchemy, we see the same fluid lines and curves that are her trademark. We see the same intricate patterns formed painstakingly in the hands of an artist guided by her instinct. And the discipline culled from years of trial and error is manifested. After all, by putting something together and breaking it apart, as Pamintuan had, one learns and becomes better and better.

The accessories in the AnnTiu.Alchemy collection are available for purchase, proceeds of which will help the Yuchengco Museum’s programs. A 72-page exhibit catalog, containing a concise interview with Pamintuan by guest curator Sonia Ner, as well as photos of her jewelry creations and prized furniture, sculpture, and home decor, can be bought at P500 at the museum’s books and gifts corner.

Yuchengco Museum is open on Mondays to Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission prices are P100 for adults, P50 for students 15 years and above, and P25 for children and senior citizens.

AnnTiu.Alchemy
Until May 10, 2008
Yuchengco Museum
GF RCBC Plaza
Ayala corner Gil Puyat Avenues
Makati City

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