Manila (CNN Philippines Life) — When the parent founders of the design brand Ital Design gave birth to Jam Chan, little did they know that another little furniture shop would come with her, as she turned 26. Now a budding Filipino-Chinese entrepreneur, Chan moved on from helping out with the family business to start a design shop of her own while still carrying the parent brand’s name: House by Ital Design.
“I really wanted to have something that I can say I created, or something that I have for myself,” she says. Despite the five existing branches of Ital Design all over Metro Manila, Chan was determined to create “something new, something more modern and unique,” as she put it. “So I proposed to my parents that I really wanted to have this big investment and put up a big store in a mall. The opportunity came when Uptown Mall opened and I was able to get this space.”
The brand name is as simple and honest as its intention: The idea of having a space where people can start building their houses from. The store is divided into different sections that look like little snippets of different kinds of homes. A white minimalist bedroom lies next to a more rustic dining area. Kitschy living room elements are seen from their glass facade. Chairs of various colors and styles rest on a gigantic shelf covering an entire wall. Anyone who walks in can feel right at home because the shop allows you to sit on its chairs and lie on its mattresses.
The sections of House are essentially pre-made dioramas that one can instantly superimpose upon one’s home, or use as a guide model for self-designing. The modern urban dweller, after all, is their own interior designer.
“I wanted this place to be a sanctuary for people who don’t want to get an interior designer,” Chan explains. “Before, people would hire interior designers [and tell them], ‘O, bahala ka na, I just like pink, or whatever color.’ Now, people like Pinterest and Instagram, so they are actually more involved [in designing their own space]. I want House to be much more helpful to my clients that when they enter here, it’s already designed well, each space.”
Chan knows that aside from resources, ideas are all that are needed for a person to DIY their own space. She adds, “When you go to House, there are ideas in each section. Each section, you can at least get an idea of how a space should turn out, so it won’t cost you anymore a design fee.”
Each piece in the store is rooted in Scandinavian design, the versatility of which goes hand in hand with how Chan celebrates the individuality of each home dweller, style and design-wise. “The point of the matter is that, each person has their own style,” she says. “We want to cater to all types of people, whether it be for a bachelor’s pad, a single girl, or three girls living together, or a family — we want to cater to each one. That’s our main goal.”
To further break out of the box, Chan has incorporated other design inspirations for House, such as travel, which makes the space different from, and perhaps more playful than the usual furniture store. “House is not the normal type of furniture store na parang, plain white lang,” she says. She points to the Parisian arcs that make up the entrance to the in-store showroom, and the lights and red bricks, she says, are reflective of the aesthetic of New York condominiums.
Before it opened, Chan had persistently pushed for the establishing of House for two years, and has been denied a space in three malls before finally setting up shop in Uptown Mall. With her perseverance, one can trust her advice to aspiring furniture shop builders: “Do what you want, don’t be scared.” She adds, “If you wanna own a furniture store, you have to know what you want so the store mirrors your style also. Kasi all the furniture stores are the same. They’re selling tables, chairs, couches … So it really depends on the owner or the stylist how you’ll show to people how you would differ from other stores.”
It seems as if most Filipino-Chinese entrepreneurs believe in one thing: risk. Chan believed in luck — House, besides following the rituals of feng shui in its establishing, opened its doors on Chinese New Year (“We’re very Chinese,” Chan laughs in a self-aware manner). But her convictions lie stronger with the former, as she continues her advice: “Just keep on pushing and pushing, don’t be scared that you’re failing. Sometimes you have to fail to really get there. Risk it, risk it.”
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House by Ital Designs is on the 3rd floor of Uptown Mall, 36th Street corner 9th Avenue, Fort Bonifacio, Taguig. For more info, check out Uptown Bonifacio on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
