Ylaya Studio
Doy Lagos and Marcus Nada make simple things extraordinary. Doy is an architect and bar owner, while Marcus runs a graphic design studio with his wife called Electrolychee. Their day jobs form the perfect union for their furniture design side business and their backgrounds are evident in their pieces. We talked to Marcus to learn more about their project.
Can you tell us how Ylaya Studio started?
Ylaya Studio is a reincarnation of a sidelined previous lighting design venture by Doy. When I decided to venture into furniture making and design, I offered Doy to combine both our endeavors to form a single company.
What influences you when making a new piece?
The design challenge clients ask us to do with what resource materials we have.
What comes first, the material or the design?
It depends on the project. But more often than not, we work around with the material we have at our disposal. The design gets tweaked to fit the availability of materials.
What makes you different from other furniture designers?
We don't set ourselves to revolutionize design. We just create utilitarian pieces that strike a balance between form and function. Simple yet aesthetically pleasing. We focus on custom pieces that satisfies our client yet not compromising our personal design aesthetics. I think that genuine goal is enough to set us apart.
What do you enjoy doing apart from designing and making furniture?
We both enjoy making music. We're both part of the band Bagetsafonik for 13 years and released 2 full length albums.
Describe your style?
Modern meets traditional.
Any advice to people wanting to design or make their own furniture?
Form and function should always go hand in hand. Every design element should have its purpose, a special meaning. Do not incorporate something in your design just because it looks cool.
Take time to learn how to build it on your own. It will enhance you in solving design challenges when applied into actual product.
Be observant while you go about your daily life. You'll find interesting ideas and materials as you go around.
Find inspiration in things not even related to the project. You'd be surprised at the possibility of how things will turn out.
Describe a day in the life of a furniture designer?
Aside from being furniture designers, we manage our time being me (Marcus) as a graphic designer/illustrator and Doy as a bar manager. Delegation of tasks is very important to us. Day to day schedule is not fixed. On a typical day, we check messages, answer inquiries and give quotations. On approved projects, we see through daily build progress with our carpenter until it's time for us to personally do the finishing. We're hands-on with the finishing because we're critical with the final product. After it's done, we take a photograph before it gets delivered. We post it via our social media account for promotion.
Photos property of Ylaya Studio