6 Indigenous Materials for your Contemporary Filipino Home Design

Even in the modern age where we can make houses from foreign materials imported to the country, the climate, topography, and overall tropical aesthetic begs that home design in the Philippines center on or at least incorporate indigenous materials. Not only are they cheap but they’re well suited to the country’s conditions as well to its overall aesthetic.

Abaca

We start off this list with panitikang Pilipino’s (Filipino literature’s) first letters, A-Ba-Ca! The abaca is known to be made into ropes, but in recent years, it’s used for decorative fixtures. It can also be woven into fabric and affixed to frames to create furniture. Abaca is also anti-bacterial.

Rattan

Rattan is highly pliable strands of palm that are woven together to create decorations and furniture. It’s very breathable, light, but also sturdy.

[http://yamakawa-rattan.com]

Molave

It’s known to be the hardest locally available wood used for construction. Molave is strong but is also lightweight, so it’s ideal for most construction uses. Because it is smooth to the touch, it adds a balanced and delicate aesthetic to your home design to make your house in the Philippine classy yet modern.

Coconut Shell

Coconut shells are a nice alternative material for decorations and other basic home items. They’re lightweight, cheap, and hard albeit not as pliable. They’re great for dining and kitchen utensils and other miscellaneous fixtures like lamps and ashtrays.

Capiz

Capiz is not very cheap, but it is very beautiful. Aside from being used for lamps, it can also be elaborately used for Colonial Spanish styled sliding windows or Japanese tatami styled doors.

[https://www.flickr.com/photos/mariamonet/sets/1744424/]

Bamboo

Of course, no truly Filipino inspired home design can be without bamboo. In the Philippines, bamboo is the primary material for native houses called bahay kubo. A big portion of the house can be made out of bamboo—actually, you can make the whole house out of it. It’s versatile, strong, but also breathable and cheap.