Carlo Calma is the youngest addition to the Philippines’ Calma family known for flawless composition and striking motifs in architectural design. Educated in design and architecture in the United Kingdom, Carlo believes that aesthetic beauty in design is merely secondary if not supported by theory.
This was evident in his recent exhibit of an 18-piece carved-wood collection that highlighted the flow of motion. “Grammar of Movement,” he calls it. Through the trails of color used in every piece, Carlo captured actions that often happen too fast to be appreciated. It was his critique on literal movements of the body in rhythm, as seen in pieces inspired by classical ballerinas, edgy hip-hop dancers and graceful swan-divers.
Sculpture of a dancer’s movements, inspired by the movie Black Swan.
A few other exhibit pieces poked fun at the contrast and movement of language, this time from school-taught form and structure to the tasteless text lingo now known as “jejemon.” With some of his smaller sculptures estimated to range anywhere between Php150,000 and Php350,000, it’s no surprise that beauty doesn’t come cheap.
Carlo’s creations have been hauled off to Europe and the United States. While his footprints are stamped in various places around the globe, he himself is constantly exploring new methods for design. “Design is the rigorous beautification of built environments,” he says. And beautify is what he did for Aranaz Boutique in 2008, when the local brand of bag exporter tasked Carlo to reinvent the look of its flagship store in Makati City.
The designer/architect used the uninterrupted rhythm of patterns on animal skins and hides, a common design element in Aranaz handbags, as his driving force. Through the simplicity of nature’s algorithms, Carlo transformed the boutique into a space of edgy yet symmetric order. The boutique’s walls seemed to slither, appearing almost snake-like, mirroring the veneer of the evening bags up on the store’s display.
Carlo’s interior designs are often born from the marriage of polar opposites, which he uses to breathe life into seemingly dead spaces. In boxy areas where floors end and walls begin, Carlo strives to blur boundaries, stitching them together into a unified structure. “I like the playful elements that go into using various patterns and textures,” he says. He often uses geometric patterns to create particular effects, such as lines in varying lengths which are evenly spaced out to convey the impression of motion.
His work on Manila Diamond Hotel’s Constellation function venue, for example, makes use of two-dimensional panes mounted on the room’s ceiling and carved in a certain pattern to give the illusion of depth. The length of the corridors that lead to the main area are covered by circular patterns that give the illusion of expanse.
Infinitely fascinated by textures, Carlo plans to create a line of interior fixtures such as wall hangings and small-scale sculptures later in the year. This time, he will take inspiration from the play of shadow, light and color, as if seeing the world through kaleidoscope eyes.
