Milo Naval plays with fire, subtly so
Aphro has always been a little pocket of magic in Manila. Named after the goddess of love and beauty, the living art and design store has hosted many exhibitions by visual artists, ceramicists, and designers. With its distinctive wooden slide and stair steps that double as display platforms, Aphro has been an open playground for creatives for 10 years.
So it’s fitting that for its 10th anniversary, the space hosts Milo Naval’s first solo exhibition “Yakisugi,” which came together with a spirit of experimentation and a little bit of serendipity mixed in, too.
“Everything just came together”
Around two months before the show opened, Aphro founder Tina Fernandez was chatting with the furniture designer at Karrivin. At the same time, mixed media artist Christina “Ling” Quisumbing Ramilo happened to be in the space. One introduction led to another, and before anyone had time to overthink, Naval had a venue, Ramilo had agreed to curate, and Aphro had found its anniversary exhibition.
“It was meant to be,” Naval recalls of how quickly everything unfolded. “Everything just came together.”
For Ramilo, the collaboration came naturally, as their practices and processes intersect. Both work with wood, and even pencils. “Monolith” in particular is a free-standing, large-scale installation of pencils that rises overhead, leaving streaks of red across the floor.
Ramilo shares she resisted the temptation to over-curate the exhibition, choosing instead to approach the installation much like a conversation. “Because I’m an artist, I like to consult with the fellow artist,” she says. “I can put whatever pieces wherever I want, but that’s not my style. That’s where the collaboration begins.”
The collaboration felt natural because, despite their different aesthetics, Ramilo immediately recognized common ground. “I love wood,” she says. “It’s a very different process from mine, but we’re both interested in material-based research.”
From furniture to fine art
Although this is Naval’s first solo exhibition, he is not new to making furniture. For decades, he has been known for his minimalist furniture and architectural work, exhibiting internationally and building a career rooted in nature-inspired craftsmanship and organic materials like wood and weaves.
“I’ve always wanted to mount an exhibition,” Naval says. “This is my way of expressing myself. I didn’t want to stop with furniture.”
The exhibition quickly materialized, with nearly every work completed in just a month and a half. The timeline was easy, as Naval and his team are used to producing multiple furniture collections in tight timelines each year.
Fire as the medium
The exhibition’s namesake uses the centuries-old Japanese technique of Yakisugi. “I wanted to reintroduce Yakisugi, the traditional method of preserving wood by charring,” he explains. The chemical-free process creates textures and imperfections, while also waterproofing the wood. “I’m also partial to the color black,” he shares.
“Earth grounds us, water moves us, air breathes life into us, fire transforms us. I hope my work reminds viewers of our deep connection to nature and the beautiful harmony that allows us to exist,” Naval says.
At the same time, Naval explores the contradiction: How do you impose order on something as unpredictable as nature?
Through his work scattered across Aphro, “A Lovely Rainy Night” renders rain in repetitive triangular patterns, while “Sunrise and Sunset” distills dawn and dusk’s hues underneath sharp lines. Scattered in between are sculptures with black blocks and stones, titled “Guides,” and ethereal capiz shell lamps. One work in particular stands out, “Rainforest,” which hints at underbrush when you peer at it from one angle but disappears from another.
Letting nature lead, always
Naval’s appreciation for organic materials has shaped his decorated career for decades, with collections often described as “clean, clear, and free of fuss.” “I’m basically a naturalist,” he expresses. “When I started exhibiting abroad, I always wanted to show where I come from through the materials I used. It became part of my identity.”
“We experience these elements every day,” Naval reflects. “Sometimes people fear them. I hope through my work they can look at them differently. I want people to not fear it. I want to bring out the beauty.”
After decades of forming furniture and spaces that people live with every day, Naval takes it one step further through his art, bringing the natural world itself to the forefront. Now, through charred wood, the designer and artist strips his work back to the source—returning to the raw elements that shape life itself.
“Yakisugi” by Milo Naval, curated by Christina Quisumbing Ramilo, runs until Aug. 22 at Aphro Living, The Alley at Karrivin, Chino Roces Ave. Makati City
