Young creatives, art educators and professional designers transformed the Benilde Design + Arts Campus Library Commons into an alchemist’s laboratory, where curiosity, creativity and collaboration converge.
Titled Alchemy of Ideas, the ongoing exhibition is a joint initiative of the Benilde Industrial Design Program and the Center for Campus Exhibitions (CCX) of the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde.
Anchored in Benilde Industrial Design’s commitment, “Design Like No Other,” the showcase serves as a living space of experimentation, transformation and excellence. It captures how diverse influences — culture, technology and user insight — are distilled through design thinking into meaningful and human-centered solutions for real-world impact.
A diverse array of inspiring creations is on full display — from standout student works and capstone prototypes to toy designs, paper-engineered projects, material explorations and furniture pieces — all contributed by the students and alumni.
Among the highlights of the show are the head-turning hand-drawn concept sketches and murals by the professional artists and designers from the faculty department. Design innovations made in collaboration with industry partners are likewise on view.
The curatorial team is headed by a group of Benilde Industrial Design Program homegrown talents turned educators and experts: Lead curator and creative director Gabriel Lichauco, then program chairperson Romeo Catap Jr., and project coordinator and current chair Johann Mangussad. They worked with CCX under the leadership of its director Dindin Araneta.
“Industrial designers are solution-makers,” Catap shared in his opening remarks. “We know that industrial design is creating forms and functions from ideas and solutions.”
Catap likewise expounded how the program guides the students to come up and work with a mix of concepts — an “alchemy of ideas.” “As alchemy is where you mix different potions and combinations and create beautiful things,” he said.
“We have this certain core name — industrial designers — but we also have different specializations,” he added. “So we are, as if, the jack of all trades, not master of none but of many. We can do many things — we create a lot of things.”
Alchemy of Ideas is on view until 5 November on the eighth floor of the Benilde Design + Arts Campus.