PHNO-SB: ISABELLE MIAJA: DESIGNING FROM WITHIN


 



ISABELLE MIAJA: DESIGNING FROM WITHIN


MANILA, APRIL 25, 2011 (STAR) PULSE ASIA - By Mabel Guia Acosta (People Asia) Designing high-end residences and hotels for almost three decades and traveling all around the globe for her trade — Isabelle Miaja has absorbed cultures wherever her little basket of design takes her.

­With a Parisian mother who immersed her children in the arts, and a Spanish father who was a prominent jewelry designer, Isabelle fell into design at a very early age. Quite literally, she grew into art — their French homes, both in the country and in the city, were of Louis XIII and Louis XVI-inspired architecture and design. Indeed, Isabelle's formative and teen years were centered on the artistic side of life.

"High socks and perfect skirts were my life as a kid," Isabelle shares. But when she turned 18, she realized that that kind of life was "too claustrophobic and too small" and thus made the decision to go to New York, the city that never sleeps. "And I loved it," states Isabelle with a sparkle in her eyes, as if it was New York for the first time all over again.

The Big Apple proved to be a big revelation for the blossoming young adult. It opened her to a bigger life with no boundaries. "When you're that age, you actually don't see the socio traps of the US. The only thing you see is the immensity of spaces, the tallness of the buildings, the differences of the people; so all these come up as very exciting, like another world." Isabelle loved it so much that going back to Paris was "certainly a NO" for her.

Her journey in America continued to California where she moved for the simple reason that she liked the weather. And within months of her move, at the age of 22, she met her husband and soon after, they had a baby boy.

She met Robert Arambulo, an Architecture graduate from the University of Santo Tomas, while she was learning English. It was Robert's work discipline and dedication to his craft that steered Isabelle into the world of Interior Design.

She went to the School of Applied Arts in Westwood in Los Angeles where she took up a "foundation course" which, she shares, "was a bit of everything heading to interior design." And at the age of 24, she and business partner Robert opened their own interior design consultancy company, Robisa Design International, in Los Angeles.

"That was very bold because we really had no clue," Isabelle says of the move. But since then, Isabelle shares, she has never worked for anyone else except her clients. She was her own boss, and that was how things have been since.

Isabelle and Robert's partnership proved very much fruitful when the duo received immense praise for their unique approach to designing. They started out as "support team to other big designers" because they did not yet have their own background to work with. They got the chance to work with many international designers and Isabelle describes the experience as "wonderful." "We had the chance to work with designers who have different styles of their own," she enthuses, and they got to absorb the rich differences of each style.

Slowly but surely, the design duo found themselves designing their first hotel, then their second, and it was the start of many amazing design projects on their plate. Isabelle shares about a beautiful old home on Lake Placid in Toronto: "To see it actually transformed into a beautiful resort on a beautiful lake… I still remember being there in November, walking around that lake, four months pregnant and looking at this amazing real estate, which we did the whole design for." You can hear the passion and pride in her voice as she shares.

In 1994, Robert got a job with the biggest US interior design firm and that saw Isabelle and her whole family moving to Singapore. "Singapore is like arriving in the Switzerland of Asia," Isabelle says. She quickly opened her own company, Isabelle Miaja and Associates (IMA) Interiors and proceeded with projects that were "very high-end residential. I was still trying to find my way around," says Isabelle about her non-existent design style then. She admits, "I had a nice little portfolio of high-end homes but the style was not yet defined for myself. (I was) introducing what the masters taught me, but not having extracted my own essence of design."

Busying herself with design projects within Singapore, she caught a huge break when she was asked to work on the Radisson Hotel in the Middle East. That project, along with a trip to London, "transformed things" for Isabelle.

She fell in love with a hotel with its "mix of old and super artsy new" and it hit her that that was it, that was what she wanted to be. "I want to be someone who picks from her past and redesigns with very bold lines striking architecture (with) a very clean background." No doubt it was the defining moment in Isabelle's career.

"From that moment on, I started really maturing and knowing — really the pictures would come to my mind, you see the projects and things just pop right away," Isabelle gushes. "And then you know that you acquired enough maturity and at the same time, you are not ensconced in something defined."

Isabelle's trademark took time to develop. "It is only when you know what you do, how much work you are given and how all this is amalgamating into a picture that is starting to get clearer and clearer as you go," she shares.

Isabelle has come a long way since then and fast-forward to 2008, her Isabelle Miaja and Associates Interiors was re-launched as the Miaja Design Group (MDG).

"The beauty of design is that you are always on the go," she says, averring that there is always evolution in style. But being on the go has not hindered Isabelle from having a very fulfilling personal life. "Kids in your life add a dimension that gives you also a sense of where you belong and what's next. That afterwards somebody will continue not your company but what you leave behind," says the proud mother of three. "Children are actually an imprint of you with their own flavor, so, I think that it is beautiful to leave that behind," Isabelle states succinctly.

She wanted to have four kids but her career was taking over and she did not want it to stand in the way of her family life. She is currently working on design projects in Mumbai, New York and Maldives, aside from the Discovery Suites Hotel and the soon to rise Tofino Hotel at the Bonifacio Global City. Her excitement over the projects notwithstanding, she coyly says that they can really take a lot out of her and likened them to giving birth to another child.

When asked about Asia as a market for interior design, the well-traveled designer had nothing but good words for it. "Asia, in general, is where the mind can go wild because (interior design) is a new concept," she shares. She believes that there are more chances for growth for the field of interior design here in the region and in the Middle East. Although its newness does have one drawback, and that is the lack of professionalism in the dealings with clients who are just getting used to the idea of interior design. That, though, does not dampen interest in Asia's booming interior design market.

"I understand when you design it is not so much what you see but what you feel," Isabelle says. Humbly, this passionate designer who has led both a fulfilling personal and professional life, wants to be considered a citizen and designer of the world. "Because I think I bring my little basket of design everywhere I am being asked to — and there are no frontiers in design," she concludes. True words from a woman whose basket of design has opened up new worlds for her.

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Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi

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