Talyer Chic
(Budoy’s comfy, cute, water resistant recycled furniture pieces)

So far, Errol “Budoy” Marabiles’ picaresque existence has been a series of serendipities.

A multi awarded painter in his student days he transformed himself into an installation artist then into a performing artist then into a musician then into a TV personality, at which point he became a product endorser. He was mixing it up as a DJ in local bars and parties when inspiration stirred him again into yet another path.

Walking around the upper area of Lahug he saw a fence made of PLDT cable wires. He was fascinated by it that he asked people in the area where they got these cables. And they showed him where he could find them in abundance and for free.

Using the prototype of the reclining rattan chair he came up with Junior Lubag (an obvious allusion to his band Jr. Kilat) that followed the prototype’s form but substituting the material: from rattan to cable wires.

At this point Budoy shoves into the viewer a different twist to the concept of defamiliarization, giving them a jarring, if brief, rediscovery of the separation of form and material in a very tangible and highly functional example. Bordering on oxymoron, one could describe “Junior Lubag” as “cable rattan chair” or rattan type reclining chair made of telephone cables.

Perhaps toying with the idea of becoming a Kennith CoBundoy, he searched for other recyclable materials that he could fashion into furniture pieces. And one by one the materials stumbled right into him. Washing machine parts, picture tubes, motorcycle seats, spring coils, plastic bottles, hub caps, tire rims and rubber tires. He made them into tables, chairs and lampshades.

The leftover sheets of rubber sole cuttings make up most of the materials for his sala sets as he reshapes them into lazy boys, sofas, divans and foot rests.

But since furniture is more a thing of the bottom than a thing for the eyes one has to sit on them to know them. And though they look exaggeratedly rugged, Budoy’s recycled pieces are kind on the back and the behind. They are very comfortable to sit in.

As his re-inventions began to take some space in his front yard his friends in high places got excited and urged him to have an exhibit. So he had one at Gabriela Gallery a couple of weeks ago and some of his pieces are currently displayed in a commercial complex at Mabolo.

Now should you bring one of his sofa pieces home would you cover it? Covering it would take away the form but would stress its functionality. Basing on your lifestyle would you have his furniture inside the house or out in the yard as the material could stand the rain. (And the smell of rubber might not be to your liking.) But just how much sun and abuse can it take? This remains to be seen.

Then there’s the question of not developing a material driven aesthetics. The works right now revolve around substitution of materials on existing forms.

But all these come as afterthoughts once the pleasure of appreciating the genius of each piece would sink in. As a friend of ours put it: the works are revolutionary but the execution is left a bit wanting.

Revolutionary as they seem to undermine the existing notions of material choice for furniture works. They also evoke both Zen and Marxist principles. Zen, for taking away excess and waste in the system and Marxism for not needing any material for the project aside from what is available (read: free) at a given place and time.

Budoy who left for a performance in China seems to have a spiritual take on his pieces: “Mosugot ra kog kupyahon, dong. May na lang kay sa sunogon. Osik, makadaut sad ang aso.” ( I wouldn’t mind if my works will be copied at least that would mean the recyclable materials for making them will be used and not burned for that will be a waste and the smoke from the burning can be toxic.)