Doctors for space: Inside PIID new world

The Philippine Institute of Interior Designers (PIID) is celebrating its 62nd anniversary with a four-day experiential learning series across Bonifacio Global City and Makati City.

Centered on the theme “Designing New Worlds: Culture, Cities and the Future of Southeast Asia,” the event aims to define a distinctly Filipino interior design identity rooted in warmth, hospitality and human connection, according to PIID President Cecil Ravelas.

The welcoming (How space receives us)

The celebration opens at The Fifth at Rockwell with the launch of “Collective 8: Our Captains of Craft,” featuring works by Vito Selma, JB Woodcraft, Leeroy New, Rita Nazareno and Gabby Lichauco, Milo Naval, Jed Yabut, JJ Acuna for Venzon Lighting and Iñigo Elizalde. Attendees can view home vignettes curated by Ed, Carlo, Co, Mendoza, and Alfred Wieneke at Poliform and Flexiform. The opening night also serves as PIID’s official 62nd anniversary celebration.

Crafted interior (How space holds us)

Day two takes delegates on a tour of key design destinations across the city. Highlights include a talk on AI and the future of design by Josephson at the Kuysen Design and Experience Center, alongside a session on multigenerational family design by Antonio at Casa Bella Home and Living. Activities continue at Karrivin with design sessions at Design Story and Oppein, followed by guided walking tours and interactive stops at Abitare, Tamarind Place and Fashion Interiors. The day finishes with dinner and cocktails at Levanto.

City and the Future (How space carries us forward)

The third day turns its attention to Bonifacio Global City’s design hubs, visiting spaces such as Focus Global, Hooga and SMEG. Participants can join an open conversation with Anthony Nazareno and his daughter Bea Nazareno at Dexterton, before concluding the day’s itinerary at CWC Interiors.

Synthesis (How space makes us feel)

The four-day program wraps up at The Proscenium Theater with a comprehensive, full-day design symposium. Local masters and international speakers will converge to discuss the broader emotional, cultural, and future-facing impacts of Southeast Asian design.

‘We’re like doctors for space’

In a conversation with the DAILY TRIBUNE, Ravelas — who is also the founder of RED Interior Design — pushed back on a common misread of her profession. Interior designers, she said, aren’t hired simply to make a room look stylish; the work is grounded in understanding how people actually live.

“Because the space that we’re designing for you is where you spend your hours the longest,” she explained, “so you have to get the right person to do it for you.” Her reasoning goes beyond taste. Designers are trained to think about human behavior, psychology, and emotion — all of which shape a person’s wellbeing in a space. Get the wrong fit, she cautioned, and “it’s like playing with fire.”

It’s a line she returns to often: Interior designers, in her words, are essentially “doctors for space” — professionals who diagnose how a home should function before they ever touch its aesthetics.

Redefining Filipino luxury

Ravelas also used the interview to challenge what luxury means in a Filipino context. For her, it has little to do with expensive furnishings.

“Filipino luxury is having the space, having the right environment to restore your space,” she said — something she believes many people have lost sight of amid the pursuit of material excess.

Why earth tones are out?

Asked what overused trends she’d like to see retired, Ravelas didn’t hesitate: earth tones. After years of minimalist interiors dominated by neutrals — gray, black and muted browns — she sees color making a confident return, with bright, saturated hues replacing the safety of beige.

She traces the shift to a broader emotional response. Neutral, minimalist interiors, she suggested, have become the default aesthetic of an increasingly artificial, tech-driven world — “everything’s big, everything’s white... there’s no soul in it.”

As a counter-reaction, colors once dismissed as dated are cycling back into relevance: the mint green of the 1980s, the apple and avocado greens of the 1970s. Their return, she said, reflects a broader desire to reconnect with nature and with feeling itself, especially as daily life becomes more shaped by artificial intelligence.

Beyond ‘stylist’: What designers actually do

The conversation closed on a misconception Ravelas is eager to correct: that interior designers are little more than stylists or decorators. She was careful not to diminish that craft — she has genuine respect for talented stylists — but insists the discipline of interior design runs deeper, touching structure, function, and psychology as much as visual polish.

Her advice for anyone choosing a designer is refreshingly personal rather than prestige-driven: “Choose someone you always resonate with.” Chasing a well-known name, she warned, means little if your aesthetics don’t align or you’re not comfortable working with that person. A home, after all, should reflect the people who live in it — not the designer’s personal signature.

“If you’re investing in your home... you have to find someone who understands you and whom you’re comfortable with,” she said. “Because you’re the one who’s going to stay there.”

The right designer, in her view, is someone who can find your voice, bring it forward, and — ultimately — make your life better.