Thread

House Tours

6 stories

Dr. Jaime Laya stands between a blue electric typewriter and a stack of art books, in a library of carved santos and floor-to-ceiling shelves

How a bullfrog keeps Jaime Laya awake when it rains

Dr. Jaime Laya on the frogs he had shipped in from the Candaba swamp, the somber santos and vintage narra indoors, and the first sentence he labors over.

By Igan D'Bayan · August 31, 2019
Dr. Jaime Laya sits in the carved narra doorway of his library, bookshelves and santos behind him, a brass gramophone horn and a caned chair beside him

If Filipiniana is a flower, then Jaime Laya is a gardener

A morning in Jaime Laya’s Quezon City compound: a bahay kubo built without nails, barandilyas off a demolished house, books stacked as a shelter.

By Igan D'Bayan · August 31, 2019
Jun and Menchu Lopez beside a home coffee bar built like a Starbucks counter, with a life-size Predator figure standing guard at the right

At home with Jun & Menchu Lopez: Where every wall is a door and the Force is always brewing

A house tour where every wall turns out to be a door, the coffee is always brewing, and the Force runs through a home in a galaxy not so far away.

By Igan D'Bayan · August 10, 2019
Martin Honasan and Barbie Almalbis on a sofa in a warm-lit room, he looking through a large sketchpad, she playing a semi-hollow electric guitar, guitars hanging on the wall behind

At home with Martin Honasan & Barbie Almalbis: Cradle of art, love & a cat named after Vernie Varga

A house tour with Martin Honasan and Barbie Almalbis: a cradle of art and love, boxes of keepsakes nobody throws out, and a cat named after Vernie Varga.

By Igan D'Bayan · July 13, 2019
Raul Francisco and Joanna Preysler-Francisco sit close on a mustard sofa holding their brown dachshund, a framed portrait and gilded lamp behind them

Raul Francisco & Joanna Preysler-Francisco: Dark, seductive art in the house of love

A Parisian dream in the middle of manic Metro Manila: the Franciscos’ art-filled flat, and the love story beneath the chiaroscuro.

By Igan D'Bayan · May 4, 2019
Bigboy Cheng in a black hoodie holds a finger to his lips in front of a framed portrait of himself defaced with red spray paint

Bigboy Cheng: At home with the crown prince of Fresh

A house tour with the crown prince of Secret Fresh, where sneakers, designer toys and Filipino contemporary art end up sharing the very same shelves.

By Igan D'Bayan · March 30, 2019