It’s a forward-looking homecoming for Milo Naval at Manila FAME 2025

By September Grace Mahino

For award-winning interior and furniture designer Milo Naval, the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM) and Manila FAME, in particular, have been a vital part of his storied career. He cut his teeth on joining design trade shows through CITEM around 30 years ago, and even met like-minded creatives through the agency. Together with Budji Layug, Tony Gonzales, the late Tes Pasola, Al Caronan, Luisa Robinson, Renato Vidal, and Carlo Cordero, Naval was part of the design group Movement 8, established by former CITEM Executive Director Ely Pinto-Mansor, whose goal was to establish the Philippines as a serious player in the global high-end consumer market. 

This year, the Evolve Designs, Inc. and OMO Furniture Founder goes back to his stomping grounds with the exhibit “Home at FAME” under Manila Fame’s Design Commune setting. The showcase is the culmination of his collaboration with 10 local manufacturers in the furniture and lighting industries, a number of which are owned by Naval’s friends and are now being run by their descendants. “I’m excited to work with my friends’ companies and with these young creatives,” he says. 

Naval envisions the exhibit to be “an all-white space with all the furniture rendered in black—very dramatic and glamorous.” He deliberately wanted the showcase to be not just a collection of items but an experiential panorama that would immediately catch the attention of Manila FAME visitors. “It will not be a regular presentation that uses color,” he promises. “I want it to have a big impact on viewers as soon as they enter, so it’s going to be a very visual exhibit.” 

Aside from the dramatic effect of a black-and-white setting, Naval’s choice of a restrained palette is reflective of his creatively contrarian view. “In whatever I do, I always do the opposite. If everybody’s showing colors these days, I’ll go against that.” In fact, in keeping with his signature minimalist style, even his artworks are predominantly black, white, and beige, such as the piece he submitted for the art exhibit “dans l’esprit de l’artisan-créateur” at the international biennale for craft and contemporary creation, Révélations 2025, in Paris. “That's the only way to shine, the only way to be noticed: by being different.”

Milo Naval’s product development session with Pampanga-based furniture company Triboa Bay involved conceptualizing designs for different seating options. 

Thus, for “Home at FAME,” Naval conceptualized a spectacle that will redefine what the flora-and-fauna theme could be. “It will lead to a modern adaptation of what, to me, is nature,” he explains. His product designs feature sleek details that require expert furniture-making techniques, inspired by his close knowledge of the companies he is working with, especially their skillful material manipulation. “It will showcase the modern version of what [the theme] flora and fauna [is], [of what an] island landscape [is], but still marrying modern design with culture and tradition.” 

A home full of pieces unlike any other

Naval’s concept of a nature-inspired home features furniture and lighting products made of metal, wood, and leather that skillfully meld contrasting qualities for an arresting impact. Think sofas made from metal, manipulated to look like crumpled paper, and coated in a glossy, automotive finish; solid-wood table tops propped up on spindly-looking metal leaves; and pendant lamps with canopies resembling drooping lilies. 

In explaining his vision to the 10 participating manufacturers, Naval relayed the sensorial effect each item should have. “Whenever I bring out a collection, I would give those who would execute it the general idea and feel of what I want to do.” He pairs his simple sketches with clear descriptions of the feelings the finished products should evoke since “I want the manufacturers to get [these feelings], too. Instead of dictating every single detail, which would limit the project, I want them to fully understand the purpose behind the furniture design so the process becomes a real product development.” 

Naval presented product designs to manufacturers (such as Calfurn, above) that were drawn from his familiarity with each company’s strengths. 

Naval’s sketches already promise an imaginative take on functional furniture.

After decades of working in and shaping the Filipino design industry, Naval remains excited about discovering new possibilities for what its next phase would be like. He says, “I like evolving, I like the idea of beginning once again. It’s like giving new life to your existence.” For him, working with the younger generation of manufacturers, craftsmen, and designer-entrepreneurs through Design Commune “is like planting seeds and seeing them grow.” 

***

Images by September Grace Mahino. Product sketches courtesy of Milo Naval. 

Catch Milo Naval and the creations from the participating exhibitors at Design Commune’s “Home at FAME” at Manila FAME 2025. The sourcing show is happening at the World Trade Center Metro Manila on October 16-18, 2025. Manila FAME is organized by the Center for International Trade Exhibitions and Missions (CITEM), the export promotion arm of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). Go to https://fameplus.com/registration to register.