The upper floor family room. Artwork by Nikki Ocean's The Lost Years: Series of Noise Filter #4. Moroccan leather ottoman by Casa Collective. Solihiya seating from Villa Garcia.
Style Style Profile

In this penthouse apartment designed by Ricco and Tina Ocampo, everything is for sale

In this foray into real estate, the famously creative and stylish Ocampo family have enjoined the services of their creative friends to bring the city’s bare, soul-less spaces into life.
Jerome Gomez | Oct 25 2019

“Doesn’t everyone love to see new apartments all the time?” Juliana Ocampo asks—well, more like proclaims, actually. It’s her favorite thing to do in New York where she is based (she works in a creative agency under Paper Magazine), and it’s an activity she used to take pleasure in even as a child, accompanying her father Ricco, the known fashion retailer and tastemaker. Today, however, she is playing broker for this penthouse duplex apartment in One Lafayette Square in Salcedo Village, Makati, touring me around the 312- square meter space, pointing out a designer fixture here (the Serge Mouille ceiling lamp, for example), or a throw pillow (designed by her sister Betina Ocampo), or the fact that they pushed the ceiling up, moved the aircon units in, making the balconies more for lounging and looking at the view of the neighborhood’s old office buildings. “This is the best view in the evening,” Juliana says. “My mom if she had her way would make this into her herb garden.” Mom is, of course, the former model, herself a fashion creative, Tina Maristela Ocampo.

Finale Art File and Tonico Manahan are Casa Collective X's partners in bringing this space to life.
Cozy and chic corners flow into each other.

You may also like:

Neal Oshima's images of traditional Filipino costume help elevate the look of this den. 
Small santos from Celestina and Nina Laurel lamp sculptures sit on top of art deco console from Pepito Albert. 

If it isn’t clear yet, Casa Collective X is a family affair, the latest business venture from the famously enterprising and very creative Ocampos. “The X stands for X-perience. It’s a company that builds purposeful homes together with creative people and designers that bring the homes to life,” says Juliana. Meaning, dad Ricco scouts for apartments in the city, fixes what’s broken, reconfigures the spaces and nooks to make them fit the modern city dweller’s needs (i.e. lots of storage), and spruces them up, together with wife Tina, with that familiar Ocampo flair. For this initial apartment they’ve put on the market, it’s all about an approachable, vibrant chic: tropical references and splashes of colors, with furniture pieces from Casa Collective and bed spreads from Balay ni Atong. On one wall, framed prints of Neal Oshima’s pictures of traditional Filipina wear holds pride of place, on another a bright yellow painting by Jakkrit Chewapanya makes a splash on a green backdrop.

A pair of tropical print chairs from Casa Collective and details in bold colors bring this space to life.
"Only my father can make a space look like New York," says Juliana Ocampo.

This penthouse used to be a very gloomy space, says Juliana, before the Ocampos whisked the unpleasant elements away: the heavy tint on the glass windows, for example. Once it was gone the whole place just opened up, the light came in, and the apartment became what it was probably meant to be in the first place: a pad for entertaining, with one room smoothly flowing into the next. You can host your pre-game drinks in the den where you can see the entire apartment through the glass window partition, or have sunset cocktails by the balcony before everyone ends up on the dining area where, today—just for effect?—some party glassware has been arranged ready to be filled.

A corner table at the master's bedroom.
For more design inspiration, one of the books on display in the apartment.
Woven blanket from Balay ni Atong give this 40 Winks bed a shot of personality.

I asked Ricco why he thought of the venture. “It’s a different take on the real estate business,” he says. “Because I’ve been going around and looking at homes. I thought we need to sell a home that has more meaning, not just a condo that’s bare, showrooms that all look alike. It’s like putting a soul into a home.” And with “correct prices,” he adds, “maybe even lower than the current market price.” And who is it for? Techie Hagedorn, one of the day’s guests, chimes in: “I know people who just want to move in and not bother with picking and moving stuff, not even picking tableware.” Ricco says he will be launching a new home each month, and he already has eight lined up.

A second floor seating area with another Balay ni Atong blanket on Casa Collective seats.

“Everything here is for sale,” says the tireless, spunky, very young-looking Juliana who has probably toured quite a few visitors for the day, some of whom are her parents’ friends (I walk into Rajo Laurel just about to exit, and just before I leave, Tatler’s Anton San Diego arrives). It is only the apartment’s second day and she’s sold a Moroccan rug, and two Neal Oshima works. Some people visit and are just interested in buying the stuff on display, and that’s okay, too. But how much is the place going for, really? “P55 million,” the young lady says, without batting her pretty eyelashes, voice booming. “It comes with two parking spaces,” she adds, like a kid reading a fairy tale (she had a crash course in selling real estate before coming back home). Everything — the 40 Winks bed, the Pratesi sheets, the art — for P55 million? I ask. “P65 million,” Juliana says, “with everything including the toilet paper.”