MANILA -- Four Filipino design-driven businesses and their products were introduced to the Japanese market in the recently concluded ASEAN Design Products webinar.

The event, held last March 29-31, was hosted by the ASEAN-Japan Centre and the Japan Institute of Design Promotion.

The four designers featured by the Design Center of the Philippines in the webinar include Dr. Ria Canlas of Po-Lite Technology, Kae Batiquin of HoliCOW PH, Willie Garcia of Junk Not, and Kay Concenco of Lamana.

They learned about Japanese consumer preferences in the webinar, while also talking about their respective design processes.

"Compassion is both branding and advocacy. This leads to a new norm of business social enterprise. It is because of equal dimension and empathy applied to the products, design, construction methodology and operations. Every time I improve any aspect of my business operations, the more I manifest compassion," Canlas said.

Batiquin, on the other hand, said her process involves acknowledging the importance of the life cycle of materials.

"By acknowledging the new normal and by transforming waste to a resource, and by understanding that design is a tool, we want to show that even waste material can be treated as natural material and we have closed the loop. This is the responsibility of design," she said.

Design Center of the Philippines executive director Rhea Matute believes that despite the pandemic, Filipino brands and innovators "can be the catalyst for change by being pioneers of sustainable businesses."

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