Summary: Romeo D. Ducusin II, President of Lilok Fab Furniture & Design, joins the PhilBIG Show to discuss his move from banking into custom furniture and the making of pieces for homes and commercial spaces. He explains how he works with clients and architects, develops ideas from references, and considers craftsmanship, materials, price, and production capacity.

The conversation also explores Pampanga’s furniture skills, handmade solihiya, outdoor furniture, the realities of repair, and the opportunities for young Filipino designers to create work with its own character.

Q and A Snapshot

What turns a furniture reference into a piece that works for a specific space?
A reference establishes the look a client has in mind, but it leaves practical questions open. The maker needs to know where the piece will go, who will use it, its intended dimensions, and the available budget. From there, the design can be developed through proportions, materials, and construction details. The conversation describes two routes: an architect may supply an original design for fabrication, or a client may bring a visual reference and ask the furniture maker to develop options. In either case, a successful piece must answer the brief of its actual space rather than simply resemble the reference.

Why can two pieces made from the same material differ greatly in quality?
The material name tells a buyer very little about how carefully a piece was made. Proportion, assembly, finishing, and the suitability of the chosen material for its intended use all influence the result. The guest describes occasions when costly materials still produced furniture he felt was poorly executed. He therefore puts craftsmanship ahead of material prestige and discusses less expensive alternatives when they can serve the design well. Buyers should examine the finished work closely and ask how the maker proposes to construct and finish the piece, rather than relying on a premium material label alone.

When does custom furniture offer more value than a ready-made piece?
Custom work is useful when a standard product does not meet the room’s size, function, visual direction, or the owner’s preferences. The guest entered the field partly because he struggled to find furniture he personally wanted. A commissioned piece can respond to a specific interior and give a client a design that feels their own. That value depends on clear communication and competent delivery: the buyer should establish the budget, describe how the piece will be used, and understand what the maker can realistically produce. A custom label by itself does not guarantee a better result.

What information should a client provide before asking for a custom furniture proposal?
Start with the intended location, approximate width, depth, and height, the number and habits of the people who will use the piece, a design reference, and a workable budget. Tell the maker whether the furniture will live indoors or outdoors and which aspects of the reference matter most. A photograph may communicate a silhouette or mood without specifying its construction. The guest says that knowing the dimensions and desired direction allows him to suggest details and material choices. A clearer brief makes it easier to discuss tradeoffs before a price or design is finalized.

How should architects and furniture makers share design decisions?
An architect can define how the furniture fits the overall space, including its proportions, position, and visual intention. A furniture maker can then advise on the fabrication details that turn that intention into an object. The guest is willing to build a designer’s original concept or develop a piece from a reference when the designer wants that help. He asks for room to contribute his making experience, especially when a drawing specifies details that may produce an unexpected result. The productive question is which decisions express the design intent and which should be resolved with the people responsible for making the piece.

How can a limited budget produce furniture with character?
A clear budget gives the maker a problem to solve. The discussion suggests focusing spending on design, sound construction, and details that people will actually notice and use. An expensive material can absorb money without improving the finished piece if its proportions or workmanship fall short. The guest describes suggesting more affordable materials where the craft can still deliver the intended effect. The client should explain the budget early, then ask what changes in material, form, and finish would preserve the most important qualities of the design.

What does handmade solihiya add to a furniture commission?
Solihiya is woven cane work used in furniture. It contributes a visibly crafted surface and depends on people with the skill to make the weave. The guest says he has started including handmade solihiya in current projects to provide work for local makers in Pampanga. For a designer, the meaningful decision is where the weave belongs within the piece and how it relates to its frame, proportions, and intended use. The conversation also makes an economic point: a craft continues to have a place in the industry when clients give its makers actual commissions.

Why do unusual furniture designs depend on skilled makers?
An original idea may require a workshop to solve unfamiliar fabrication problems. The guest describes training and challenging his Pampanga team with designs outside their usual work. Their ability to execute those pieces helps distinguish the finished furniture from more common products. The designer brings an idea, while the maker tests what can be built, how the parts come together, and where details need adjustment. This collaboration is especially important when a piece uses specialized work such as weaving or carving. Inventiveness gains practical value only when the proposed piece can be made to an acceptable standard.

What should buyers ask about furniture intended for outdoor use?
Ask how the materials will respond to the specific conditions where the furniture will sit, including exposure to rain and sun, and how it will be maintained. The guest says he is particular about the foam, upholstery fabric, and wood he selects for outdoor pieces; he specifically mentions reticulated foam and fabric intended for outdoor use. A buyer should discuss the complete piece with the maker rather than assume that an outdoor fabric alone makes every component suitable. The transcript describes the maker’s selection approach, not a universal performance guarantee or a specified service life for any one product.

When is repairing or reupholstering furniture worth the expense?
The decision depends on the condition of the existing piece, the work required, and the cost of getting it to the maker and back. The guest asks clients for photographs and sometimes inspects a piece when the images do not answer enough questions. He says a single item can become uneconomical to repair if transport costs are high. An owner should compare the full repair and logistics cost with the value of retaining the piece and the likely cost of a suitable replacement. A candid assessment can save a client from paying for a repair that does not make sense.

Why should buyers ask about a workshop’s production capacity?
Custom production takes time, people, and close attention to finishing. A workshop that accepts more work than it can manage may struggle to meet the promised quality or delivery. The guest says he has declined a large prospective order because it exceeded what he was prepared to deliver properly. For a client furnishing a home or a larger property, the right questions include how many pieces the workshop can make within the schedule and how it will handle design reviews and problems during production. The ability to accept an order and the ability to fulfill it well are separate matters.

What advantage can local custom production offer a project?
A client can speak directly with the person developing the design and discuss changes before the piece is made. The conversation also describes how local makers can create furniture that responds to an unusual brief and uses skills available in Pampanga. Imported ready-made products can still suit many projects, so the useful comparison is specific: examine the design requirement, available budget, schedule, maker’s capacity, and the level of customization needed. The guest’s concerns about later imported orders were based on experiences recounted to him, rather than evidence that every imported product performs the same way.

What should young furniture designers learn beyond finding an original style?
A distinctive idea must be considered alongside construction, client needs, budget, and the abilities of the people who will make it. The guest encourages designers to explore unexpected materials and avoid repeating familiar forms. His own practice also shows the importance of testing ideas with makers and accepting the limits of production capacity. A simple piece can feel fresh when its material or detail has been carefully considered. For someone entering the field, originality becomes more persuasive when the design can be explained, built, used, and delivered.

How Filipino Craftspeople Create Furniture for Distinctive Spaces

A chair can be beautifully made and still feel wrong in its room. Its scale may overwhelm a dining table. Its back may sit awkwardly against a wall. Its material may seem unrelated to the surfaces around it. The difference between a good individual object and furniture that works in an interior often lies in decisions made before fabrication begins.

Custom furniture gives a designer and a maker a chance to make those decisions for a particular setting. They can establish how a piece should be used, which dimensions matter, what the room already communicates, and how much the client wants to spend. The finished object can then respond to the project rather than ask the project to accommodate it.

In a PhilBIG Show conversation with Architect Ian Fulgar, Romeo D. Ducusin II of Lilok Fab Furniture & Design discusses this work through his experience designing and producing furniture in Pampanga. His career story offers context, but the wider subject is the knowledge behind a custom piece: how a brief becomes a design, how makers turn that design into something usable, and where skilled Filipino craft can find a place in contemporary interiors.

An Early Interest in Making Things

Romeo grew up with parents who worked hard to provide an education for their children. His father worked as a security guard, while his mother took on a variety of jobs. He remembers earning money as a child by selling cigarettes during school breaks and painting small details on ceramic vases.

During a school break in high school, he also worked on a construction site. The experience helped him notice the work of making and building. He considered studying architecture, but his path led to economics at the University of the Philippines.

He eventually built a successful banking career. Finance provided a living and allowed him to support his family. His creative interest remained active. While still employed in banking, he studied furniture independently and began testing designs in the market.

The eventual move to furniture required him to start a new business with a different kind of expertise. He brought relationships from his banking career into his first efforts to find clients. The design work gave him the creative satisfaction he had been looking for.

Finding a Market for Uncommon Furniture

Romeo says the furniture available to him did not always reflect what he wanted to own. He began to wonder how many other people faced the same problem.

A client may know the feeling they want in a room and have trouble locating the right piece. The available choices may fit the dimensions but feel too common. Another client may want an unusual reference interpreted for their own space, materials, and budget.

Lilok Fab grew around those requests. Romeo first pursued potential customers and then developed production to meet the work. He drew on relationships from his banking career, and an early major commission came through Federal Land. Over time, projects and referrals widened his client base.

His observation about an overlooked market remains useful for people developing interiors. A distinctive piece can help establish the character of a home, lobby, restaurant, or resort. It gives the designer a way to connect an interior concept with an object people will touch and use every day.

Starting With the Client, the Reference, and the Budget

Some clients arrive with a drawing. Others bring a photograph and a rough idea. Romeo asks questions before treating either as a finished specification.

He wants to understand the desired style, the space, and the person who will live with the furniture. A reference image can show a preferred silhouette or mood, but the finished piece still needs appropriate proportions, materials, and details. A budget makes the design exercise more concrete by showing where the choices have to land.

Romeo describes spending time considering many possibilities before presenting a small selection to a client. That work may be invisible during a meeting, but it is where a maker filters ideas against the demands of a real project.

For an architect or interior designer, this approach can be valuable when the project calls for furniture that supports a larger design idea. The maker can help translate a visual direction into a piece that can be fabricated, finished, delivered, and used.

A Reference Image Is Only the Beginning

Clients often arrive with an image. It might show a chair they admire, a sofa silhouette, or a room whose atmosphere they hope to achieve. Such an image is useful because it starts a conversation about taste. It rarely explains everything a workshop needs to know.

A photograph may hide the back of a piece, disguise its true dimensions, or show materials that do not suit the project’s budget. It cannot tell a maker how the intended owner sits, how the furniture will be cleaned, or whether the piece must endure frequent movement. Even when an image comes with a detailed drawing, the person making the furniture may see a construction issue that is difficult to recognize on paper.

The practical response is to separate the qualities worth keeping from the features open to interpretation. Is the client drawn to the curve of the back, the visual weight, the texture, or the overall period of the design? Which dimensions are fixed by the room? Which details can change so the furniture works better in its new setting?

Why the Maker Belongs in the Design Conversation

A technical drawing can communicate dimensions and appearance. The maker brings knowledge of what happens when the drawing meets wood, upholstery, joining methods, and human use.

Romeo asks architects and designers to give him room to contribute that knowledge. He can work from their original designs or develop furniture from a reference when their time is committed elsewhere. In either case, he prefers a conversation about the intended result over a set of instructions that leaves no space to resolve the details.

A clear design direction helps everyone understand what the furniture must accomplish. The maker’s experience can then refine a proportion, suggest a construction detail, or identify a material that better suits the budget.

For developers and hospitality operators, that coordination can guide where the budget goes. Furniture affects the impression a guest forms and the comfort of daily use. Early discussion helps the team decide which spaces call for a distinctive commission.

Dimensions Tell Only Part of the Story

Width, depth, and height establish whether furniture can fit. They do not, by themselves, tell the maker how it will feel or function. A dining chair can clear the table and still leave the sitter uncomfortable. A sofa can fit along a wall and still dominate the circulation around it.

The intended use helps give dimensions meaning. A lounge chair for a quiet corner asks something different of its seat and posture from a chair used in a reception area. A statement piece in a lobby carries different demands from furniture a family will use daily. The transcript does not provide a universal dimensional formula; it shows why the maker needs the context behind the measurements.

Architects and clients can strengthen a brief by explaining the room around the piece. Identify the available space, adjacent furniture, primary users, and visual intent. Clarify what must remain exact and where the maker can refine the shape. This gives the workshop room to propose details that suit the design while staying within the project’s physical limits.

A useful drawing therefore communicates more than a form to copy. It invites a conversation about the outcome. The person responsible for fabrication can then test whether the proposed proportions and details will produce the furniture the client expects to see and use.

The Budget Is a Design Input

Budgets are often discussed after a client has settled on an appearance. In custom work, that sequence can make every subsequent choice feel like a compromise. Sharing a realistic budget early gives the maker a clearer design problem.

The available amount influences materials, the complexity of the form, upholstery choices, and the amount of specialized labor a piece requires. It can also reveal where money will make a visible or functional difference. A carefully resolved form in a less expensive material may serve a space better than a costly material used without enough attention to the making.

The guest repeatedly returns to this point. He asks clients for their budgets and looks for ways to produce pieces with character within them. His examples express an ambition to make a piece feel more valuable than its price, rather than a guarantee that any budget can achieve any design.

The useful question for a buyer is what must be protected when costs are adjusted. If the proportions define the piece, preserve them. If comfort matters most, assess the seat and upholstery carefully. If a handcrafted surface gives the piece its identity, understand the cost of that labor before replacing it with a superficial substitute. A productive budget discussion identifies priorities before it removes details.

Expensive Material Does Not Guarantee Good Furniture

People often describe a piece by its material: a certain wood, a premium textile, or a particular finish. Those descriptions matter, but they can draw attention away from workmanship.

Material has to be selected for the intended use, prepared, assembled, and finished. If the proportions are awkward or the execution is hurried, the name of the material cannot rescue the result. Conversely, a less costly material can support a convincing piece when the design and making are carefully considered.

The interview offers a direct observation on this distinction. The guest describes furniture made from costly materials that still looked poorly executed to him. He favors a well-crafted piece and says he suggests alternatives when a client can save money without losing the intended quality of the result.

This does not mean all materials perform alike. A change in material may affect appearance, maintenance, or durability, and those consequences should be discussed openly. It means clients should assess the completed object through more than a material list. Look at its balance, joints, surface finish, upholstery, and how the parts meet. Ask why a material was selected for this use. Craftsmanship is visible in the answers and, ultimately, in the piece itself.

Why Custom Furniture Needs a Dialogue Between Designer and Maker

Architects and interior designers work at the scale of a whole environment. They decide how the furniture relates to circulation, light, finish, and the experience of the room. Furniture makers work through the details of producing the object. A strong commission benefits when those perspectives meet while changes are still possible.

The maker may identify a connection that needs refinement or an edge that would look different once fabricated. A designer may explain that a particular silhouette is essential to the room’s composition. These discussions make the intent clearer for the workshop and help the design team understand what a proposed detail will require.

In the conversation, the guest offers to fabricate an architect’s own design or develop options from a reference. He also asks designers to let his making experience inform some of the finer details. That is a practical request for collaboration, particularly when a tightly prescribed drawing leaves a workshop little room to resolve a problem it encounters.

Neither side needs to surrender its expertise. Agree on the concept, required dimensions, intended use, and details that define the piece. Then review the decisions that depend on material behavior or construction. This process helps keep the finished furniture faithful to the room while allowing it to be made well.

Distinctiveness Is Built Into Details

A distinctive piece does not need an elaborate shape. It can gain character from the way familiar materials meet, from a carefully judged proportion, or from a particular surface made by hand. Sometimes the difference becomes clear only when people move close enough to touch it.

The guest speaks about looking beyond common choices and finding applications for materials in unexpected places. He also describes clients who want furniture that feels personal, with a design they are unlikely to find elsewhere. His examples suggest that originality is less useful as a slogan than as a sequence of decisions that make sense together.

For a designer, this means asking where a custom detail will carry the most meaning. An unusual weave may belong on a chair back where light can pass through it. A shaped frame might define the visual line of a lounge chair. A strong silhouette may let the maker use a quieter finish. These are design possibilities, not claims that one treatment will suit every project.

A piece becomes distinctive when its details answer the room and its use. Adding complexity merely to look different can raise the cost and make the object harder to live with. The goal is a recognizable character supported by good making.

Pampanga’s Skills in Contemporary Work

Romeo established production in Pampanga, a place he associated with furniture making and skilled craftspeople. He speaks about the people who fabricate Lilok Fab’s pieces as participants in solving design problems.

An unusual drawing can ask a maker to work beyond familiar routines. Romeo says his team sometimes reacts to how difficult his ideas appear. The challenge can also give their work a recognizable edge in a crowded market.

The exchange between designer and craftsperson matters. An idea can expand what a workshop knows how to make. A craftsperson can point out the detail that makes an idea possible or makes it better. Distinctive furniture emerges through that shared attention to the finished object.

For clients, the value is evident. Local production can offer a closer conversation about changes and details. It can also put specialized skills into work that responds to a particular home or commercial space. Those benefits still depend on the capacity, schedule, and competence of the workshop chosen for the job.

Giving Handmade Solihiya New Commissions

Among the skills Romeo wants to support is handmade solihiya, the woven cane work familiar in many furniture traditions. He says he has begun including it in current projects to create work for makers who practice the craft.

Solihiya can bring texture, lightness, and a visible record of handwork to a piece. Its use still calls for design judgment. The shape of the furniture, the scale of the weave, the frame, and the setting determine how the craft reads in a contemporary interior.

Romeo’s interest is practical as well as aesthetic. A craft remains active when people commission it. For architects and clients, specifying handmade work can be a direct way to connect a present day project with local skill, provided the design and the order give that skill a meaningful role.

The same question applies to carving and other specialized work he discusses. Where can an existing skill answer a current design need? Finding that fit gives the maker a project and gives the client something that could not have come from an ordinary catalog selection.

The Difference Between a Prototype and Reliable Delivery

Originality can attract a client. Reliable production earns the next commission.

Romeo pays attention to the capacity of his team and the work already in progress. He recounts declining a sizable prospective order because he did not believe he could deliver it properly at that scale. Taking the job might have brought immediate revenue, but it also could have put the result and his reputation at risk.

That judgment is relevant across the building industry. Architects, contractors, and suppliers all face decisions about how much work they can take on while meeting their commitments. Custom furniture brings its own pressures because a design may need refinement during fabrication, and replacing a bespoke piece takes time.

A client commissioning distinctive furniture should therefore ask about more than appearance. Capacity, schedule, material availability, workmanship, delivery, and response when a problem arises all shape the value of the order.

Historical Influences Without Historical Imitation

Art Deco and Art Nouveau come up in the conversation as periods the guest has studied independently. He says elements of those styles sometimes find their way into his modern furniture, and he would welcome a commission with a stronger period direction. This interest offers a useful distinction between learning from a style and reproducing a known object.

A historical reference can guide a piece’s silhouette, ornament, or overall mood. The furniture still has to answer the dimensions, budget, materials, and daily use of a current project. A client drawn to Art Deco might respond to its sense of geometry without needing a literal replica of a period chair. Another may be interested in the expressive lines associated with Art Nouveau while wanting a piece that belongs in a contemporary home.

The design conversation should establish how faithful the new work needs to be to its reference. Is the goal to evoke an era, commission a close interpretation, or build an original piece informed by that era? Once the intention is clear, the maker can study the details that carry it and adapt the rest to the space. Historical knowledge can deepen a custom design when it serves the brief instead of becoming a costume for the furniture.

Carving, Weaving, and the Changing Brief

Specialized makers cannot rely solely on the popularity of one furniture style. Client preferences change. A workshop with excellent carvers may find fewer requests for heavily carved forms, while a different project may ask for a handwoven surface or an unfamiliar contemporary shape.

The guest describes working with people capable of carving and then asking them to solve designs that depart from what they usually make. This is a reminder that craft is a body of knowledge rather than a fixed visual style. Skills developed in one type of work can contribute to new designs when the maker and designer have room to experiment together.

The challenge is to give that knowledge an appropriate brief. A carved element should have a reason to be there. A woven panel should fit the piece’s construction and use. Asking a workshop for inventive work also requires a realistic allowance for the effort involved.

This way of thinking helps avoid reducing Filipino craft to a familiar look. Its continuing relevance depends on what skilled hands can make for present-day spaces. A furniture commission can carry that knowledge forward while producing an object that belongs to the client’s own project.

A Workshop’s Capacity Is Part of Quality

The most exciting design proposal has little value if the workshop cannot deliver it at the promised standard. Custom furniture needs time for design review, materials, fabrication, finishing, and correction when something does not turn out as expected.

The guest recounts declining a sizable prospective order because it exceeded what he felt his operation could handle responsibly. That decision reveals a constraint buyers should take seriously. A workshop may be capable of making a single excellent prototype yet need a different plan to supply many pieces to a commercial project.

Clients can ask how many units the workshop can produce within the required period, who will review the work, and what happens if a material or detail needs to change. For a larger order, agreeing on a sample or approved design gives both sides a concrete reference before the rest of the pieces are made. These are prudent commissioning questions, not a procedure promised by any particular company in the interview.

Capacity affects consistency and trust. A clear discussion of production limits lets an architect plan around the actual work involved and gives the maker a fair chance to deliver what the project expects.

Choosing Furniture for Outdoor Conditions

Indoor and outdoor furniture face different demands. Romeo discusses paying close attention to foam, fabric, and wood when a piece will live outside.

For upholstered outdoor work, he mentions using reticulated foam and selecting fabric intended for the setting. He also describes using substantial wood components. These are his stated preferences, and the appropriate assembly still depends on the exposure and maintenance conditions of a specific site.

In a resort, terrace, or outdoor dining area, the visible design is one part of the decision. The client also has to consider where rain reaches the furniture, how pieces will dry, who will maintain them, and how often they will be used or moved.

That practical discussion helps an architect develop a coherent space. Furniture can support the intended atmosphere while answering the conditions in which guests and staff will use it.

Knowing When Repair Makes Sense

Romeo also receives requests to repair or reupholster furniture. He begins by considering the condition of the piece and the cost of getting it to and from his workshop.

A repair can be worthwhile when the furniture has value to its owner or can serve well after the work. Transport can change the calculation, particularly for a single piece traveling a long distance. Romeo asks clients for photographs and, when necessary, looks at the furniture more closely before advising them.

His willingness to recommend a different course when repair offers poor value illustrates another part of service. A useful furniture maker helps a client decide which work is worth doing. That advice may prevent unnecessary expense and give the client a clearer path to a result they can use.

A Wider Opportunity for Filipino Designers

Toward the end of the conversation, Romeo turns his attention to young designers. He asks them to remain curious about unfamiliar materials and to keep testing ideas that feel different from the work they see around them.

His own career offers one example. He learned furniture design outside a formal design course, developed a market for unusual pieces, and found makers who could help build them. He continues to describe the work as something he enjoys, even when a commission demands long hours or presents a production problem.

For younger talents, originality alone is a starting point. They also need to understand who might use a piece, what it will cost, and how somebody will make it. The strongest proposal gives a craftsperson a clear challenge and gives a client a reason to bring the piece into a real space.

Philippine design has room for more of these collaborations. The resources are present in the imagination of designers, the judgment of architects, the needs of clients, and the skill of makers. The opportunity is to bring them into conversation early enough for each to influence the result.

A Piece Made for Its Place

A successful custom piece has several jobs. It must suit the person who commissioned it, work where it will be used, respect the project budget, and reward the effort of the people who make it.

Romeo’s practice brings those decisions into a close conversation with clients and designers. He listens to their references, considers alternatives, relies on Pampanga craftspeople, and remains attentive to what his team can deliver. The result can give a room a detail that belongs specifically to it.

That is the promise behind the article’s title. Filipino craftspeople create furniture for distinctive spaces when their skills are invited into the design process and given a real brief to answer. A chair or table then carries the choices of the people who imagined it, made it, and chose to live with it.