Award-winning Filipino designer Milo Naval has been to as many parts of the world as his creations have found homes.

Known for his clean and simple contemporary style, he runs Evolve Designs Inc., an enterprise that has been making and exporting contemporary and modern furniture and accessories for almost 20 years.

He has made chairs and other pieces of furniture for the rich and famous, the affluent and influential, for big department stores and global corporations.

“We’ve made thousands of chairs for the world,” he says, then adds, showing off a recent piece, “but this one is special because it was made for people who have less in life.”

He is referring to the “Live More” chair he designed for a project of GKonomics, the social enterprise development arm of Gawad Kalinga, and wireless services provider Smart Communications Inc. The project, dubbed “Silya,” seeks to help GK communities to build a sustainable livelihood.

Naval says that in form, the chair is inspired by the iconic “Swan” chair of the late Danish architect and designer Arne Jacobsen—no straight lines, only curves. The wooden base is colored with a cool blue and the cushions are designed with Smart’s signature colorful dots.

Beyond recycling
The “Live More” chair looks as though it were from Naval’s high-end atelier or international exhibit. You’d never guess that it’s made of discarded tarpaulin once used in Smart’s outdoor advertising.

The chair is a perfect expression of how he supports the recycling campaign. He wants to arouse more consciousness of “upcycling,” or the practice of converting waste and useless materials into new products of better environmentally beneficial quality.

This is not his first foray into eco-friendly designs, says Naval, who finished architecture at the University of Santo Tomas, and studied at the Philippine School of Interior Design before finding his niche in the furniture industry.

“Several years ago I had an exhibit called Survivalism, which featured furniture that used recycled materials.”

Naval also uses materials of organic and/or indigenous Filipino origin, but he still manages to stick to his trademark, which is “simple, modern [no frills, no fuss] and straightforward.”

Chairs that prop communities
Naval donated not only the “Live More” chair but also the design itself, and helped train residents of the beneficiary community in designing and making furniture. The GK communities can now replicate the chair design using locally sourced recycled materials plus the used tarpaulin donated by Smart.

GKonomics’ vision is to help more GK communities establish social enterprises, just like the Smart-adopted community in Sooc, Iloilo, which has built a livelihood program of handcrafting designer hand bags also made of Smart’s discarded tarpaulin.

“I took part in this project because it’s an opportunity to assist GK and its people. It’s my own small way of helping the communities,” says Naval.

If the GK village in Iloilo grows this enterprise, does he see a global market for this endeavor?
“Definitely,” says Naval, who is no stranger to marketing his local-inspired crafts to the rest of the world. “People are very much aware these days of the significance of eco-friendly designs.”

“When they patronize products like this, they are supporting the environment and its inhabitants. This is also a good way of promoting the idea of sharing,” he adds.

As though to set an example, Naval dreams of putting up an art school for children, where he can share his talent and expertise to a new generation, starting at a young age.