From Manila Sound and vintage television to ’90s fashion and Gen Z coffee culture, generations of Filipino pop culture have been transformed into interior spaces by graduating students of the Philippine School of Interior Design (PSID).
The 25 graduating students are presenting their work in “What the Pop,” PSID’s annual thesis exhibit, which opened October 1 at the third floor of V Mall in Greenhills Shopping Center and runs through the end of the month.
Since 1979, PSID has maintained the tradition of annually presenting the theses of its graduating students through an exhibit with a unified theme and different interpretations.
PSID, which transferred along Bayani Road in Taguig City in 2008, will be celebrating its diamond year in 2027. “The school started in 1967,” overall batch advisor and PSID faculty Nicky Jardenil told ABS-CBN News. “Earlier, the exhibit was done just in the school premises. Eventually, the exhibit went out of the school because there were many students already.
“Every group of graduating student was given an advisor who is part of the Design Advisory Committee or Council,” said Jardenil. “I started in the year 2000 giving advice and guiding the students.”
The exhibit, however, was not presented during the pandemic. “We stopped in 2020, but resumed in 2023,” said Jardenil. “We stopped for three years.”
Today, the PSID faces the challenge of finding venue for the exhibit. “We need a big space to present the exhibit,” lamented Jardenil. “It’s so hard to look for a venue. We needed a commercial space where foot traffic needs to be considered.”
The graduating class of PSID Batch 2026 with advisor Nicky Jardenil.
The 25 graduating students were assigned a pop culture generation, which they then translated into an interior space, Jardenil explained. They drew lots to determine which generation and theme they would present in the exhibit.
The exhibit features eight booths, ranging from 10 to 12 square meters for the smallest to 24 square meters for the largest. The students designed and built spaces representing different areas of a home, with the booths on display at V Mall in Greenhills Shopping Center.
The students also financed the construction of their respective booths, giving them hands-on experience in working with suppliers and contractors and bringing their designs from concept to reality.
“This is like a baptism of fire for them to practice their course,” added Jardenil. “The construction of the booths will give them an idea how it is in the actual field. When they implement their designs, they will be doing construction to mount the exhibit.”
The graduating class of PSID Batch 2026 with advisor Nicky Jardenil
The students have a common fund that they initially pooled before the start of the exhibit. “There’s a treasurer and auditor among the batch who manage the funds,” explained Jardenil. “The school does not have anything to do with the money. The student themselves manage the funds. They get in touch with suppliers and contractors. This is a hands-on experience for them after school.”
The students are graduating in November. “When they practice, they know what to do,” said Jardenil. “The graduating batch proudly shares the celebration of culture, creativity and design.”
The Generation X era (1965 to 1980) was marked by political turbulence and cultural change, as well as the rise of Manila Sound, OPM and Philippine cinema. It was also a period of transition from predominantly analog technology to the beginnings of the digital age.
That is reflected in Istambay (by Annieszcka Bantugan and Janine Sabordo) and Tunog Kalye (by Ceejay Jara), using industrial finishes, graffiti-inspired art, vintage music elements, warm wood and relaxed lounge furniture.
Ceejay Jara, the only soloist in the group, presents Tunog Kalye.
Tunog Kalye is an ode to the music that shaped the Filipino youths during the 1970s, a time when songs were not simply listened to but became part of everyday life.
The only soloist in presenting the booths is 21-year-old Jara, who got to choose her own theme from her childhood home in Makati. The others had to draw lots.
“I chose music because that’s my strength and I will thrive in that theme,” Jara said. “We would always have parties in the streets. We were very loud there. So I got the Tunog Kalye from there. I got the things in the booth from me and my family members.
“Inspiration in music was incorporated from there, the 1970s youth, the things they grew up from. Like the Apo Hiking Society, VST and Company, Hotdog band. I took that inspiration to create a space to connect the people. There’s no TV here or modern technology. I want the people to connect only with music and conversation. This is intimate.”
The era of the Baby Boomers, who grew up in the '60s and '70s, was assigned to two groups – Toyang (Olivia Panganiban, Mikko Marcelo, Alvi Clemente and Luis Enriquez) and Telebisyon (Felice Garcia, Ann Margareth Ventura, Marygrace Yu, Dan Mapanoo and Rowell Piñon).
“When we started, we picked our groupmates,” shared Clemente. “The teacher checked our ages and assigned an era where none of us was a part of.”
Panganiban is a Gen Xer and the rest are Gen Y or millennials. “We drew lots and we got games, culture and tradition,” Panganiban said. “As a group, we were the ones who picked out our inspiration. We decided that we wanted to do a modern Boomer era, bagay ang Bauhaus, a little more sophisticated and out of our comfort zone, with such bold colors.
“We used the colors red, yellow and blue then tweaked it a bit to present a modern Bauhaus. The booth is a little more sophisticated. From our inspiration, we huddled and tried different things until we ended up with our booth. This is out of our comfort zone, but when else will you try? It will be hard for us to come across a client that will want this kind of house. This is the perfect time to showcase bold colors.”
The booth has traditional Filipino games like sungka or mahjong, as well as piko, patintero and luksong tinik. “Today’s generation has digital games,” said Panganiban. “This reminds them of a time when digital games were not yet existing. It’s a place in the house where everyone can come together and do whatever they like. The kids can play with their toy, others can watch TV or listen to the radio.”
“They are forced to do actual interaction when playing the games,” added Enrieuez. “That’s how we want our space to evolve. There’s a family room that we want to be a space of gathering, a space of connection. Everyone really contributed their all and everyone did their best.”
Another group in the Boomers category depicts Telebisyon and celebrates its golden years in the Philippines – inspired by the Boomers Generation, its artifacts, technology and pop culture from the 1940s to 1960s.
The booth features a Filipino mid-century modern living room with an antique television and elements like capiz, solihiya, banig and balusters mixed with vintage technology like tabletop TVs, rotary phones and record players.
“Since we conceptualized with the vintage look of television during the Boomers era, we also incorporated the artists during that time,” said Garcia. “The client we have for this exhibit is an architect in the seventies who loves Filipino artists and films. We also incorporated the film roll in our accent ceiling.”
Generation Y, or millennials (1981 to 1996), came of age during rapid technological change, from dial-up Internet and mobile phones to the digital age. They were shaped by 1990s Pinoy rock, local hip-hop, television, fashion and Filipino romance culture, all of which influenced their connection to pop culture.
These influences are reflected in two booths, Karisma and Tealik.
For Karisma, students Ruth Gabriel Cabling and Patricia Daniel San Diego drew inspiration from the bold and charismatic fashion of the 1990s. The booth took them a long time to complete, particularly the fabrication of its floor-to-ceiling cabinets and a rotating shoe cabinet.
“September, our cabinets were being fabricated,” Cabling said. “Since floor-to-ceiling siya, we used laminate for the pink exterior. We faced a lot of struggles fabricating for the rotating shoe cabinet.”
The cabinet displays 30 pairs of shoes contributed by the students, their families and friends.
Despite the challenges of mounting the booth, the students said the design process itself was relatively easy because it closely reflected their personalities.
“It took us a long time,” San Diego said. “This booth is very close to our personality, so it was not hard to mount it. We rarely clashed when it came to the design.”
The all-female group behind Gen Z’s Simula
Simula is one of the two Gen Z booths of Melduen Castillon, Kim Garcia, Guin Guiray, Punky Intengan and Genina Zoleta all in their 30s – five girls, five different backgrounds and five distinct design styles. The other booth is Aliwan Avenue with Keith Dacua, Ninna de Leon and CJ Prlijera.
The Gen Zs (1997 to 2012) adapted the theme of coffee culture with a dining room. They grew up as digital natives, shaped by Internet cafes, mobile social media, Asian novelas, indie films and interactive entertainment.
Their online experiences, social awareness and diverse interests shaped a generation that values flexibility, creativity and self-expression. Their spaces are no longer limited to a single purpose. They can be places to dine, socialize, relax, play games and pursue personal interests.
Simula and Aliwan Avenue depict café culture in technology, organic elements and entertainment come together to create flexible, personalized and experience-driven spaces.
The design of the residential dining space was the start of the couple’s newlywed life. “At the same time, you see how they start their day through a cup of coffee together with your special someone,” Castillon said. “That was how we came up with the Simula title.
They incorporated Filipino elements in their design, like the banig, the use of materials like rattan, solihiya or even wood. We incorporated a modern take of our design,” said Castillon. “But to meet with the traditional, we used the elements that we used way back through generations. We simply echoed the previous elements from the past generations and leveled them up to meet with our Gen Z idea.”