Heavy Mental « UNO Magazine Online

Heavy Mental

July 13, 2010

By Anna Hyde

Hotshot industrial designer, Eneri Abillar, talks about being a dead ringer for Tiger Woods, kupal—his favorite Tagalog word, blowing up middle-management offices, and why his name doesn’t mean shit

Ever been mistaken for Apol De Ap?
Never! Tiger Woods, yes! I’m never mistaken for being Filipino. People think I’m Japanese. The Mohawk’s new.

What kind of animal would you relate women to?
Depends. When I was 25 I would have to say women were fucking mean! They were like cobras, rattlesnakes. When I was 25 I found women sexy, but once you got to know them they were just mean. But as I got older, I guess things have slowed down for me.

I always make this analogy (like basketball): a young basketball player would look at things differently, like the game’s really fast. Everything: the travelling, the game, the women; everything is just over the top. But the thing is you have all this ability. You’re hyper athletic. You can jump higher than anybody; you can run faster than anybody else.

The difference is, as you get older all of that slows down. You start to see things better. You become more experienced. However, you lose your physical ability. So at that point you wish you still had the same physical ability you had then now that you’re older and more aware of things. The same thing goes for women.

When you’re younger everything is quicker, faster, and women are nuts. Like snakes. But as I got older the game kind of slowed down for me. Now I can predict women more. There’s a level of maturity, a level of intelligence that you feel you can relate with.

However, you don’t look as good as you were when you were 25. You’re 35 now right? So it’s a little more difficult. So you have to raise your game a little bit despite your physical imperfections.

As far as the kind of animal the animal stays the same. However, personally as a man, you learn how to play your flute right. You know the right tune, and so you know which snake is going to bite or not.

You’ve been bitten a lot of times so you know how to grab each one better. You just learn more. It’s cliché, but you learn more as you get older.

Random thought! Quick!
(About to grab his glass of water) Water.

Coolest design you’ve ever come up with.
Haven’t done it yet, but you know what? For me, here’s the difference: I want to be great. At the end of day I want people to say Eneri Abillar was a great designer, a good designer. And I don’t believe you can actually become that unless it’s a collective [opinion].

Something you wished you designed.
The new Gucci table by Herman Miller. I’ve always admired that guy. I mean he was half sculpture, half industrial designer. To me it [the table] is kind of the perfect marriage between a sculptural and a functional piece. A lot of people take it for granted because it’s used for a lot of different things, and in a lot of different places. But for me, personally, as a designer and an artist, [Herman Miller] by far epitomizes who I ideally aspire to be in my career.

Favorite Tagalog word
Kupal. I love Tagalog words where there’s no English translation. Kupal is just fucking disgusting right? But when you call someone kupal, you’re foreskin dirt. Or mapanghi. You know what I mean? Words like that. I mean how do you describe the smell of urine? You say it smells like piss. Right?

Weirdest thing that happened to you since you got back to the Philippines.

Ah. It’s not weird. It’s probably common. So, I had to return some stuff at a store in Market Market. Anyway, they tell me I can’t. This isn’t even that weird because it’s just lame. I came to a realization as a result of it.

They said we’ll have to give you store credit (that’s kind of the case sometimes with stores in the States). Usually, in a store that big they just put it back in your card, and no harm, no foul, right? Okay fine. Right? This is a four-story store, a department store. However, I could only use my store credit in one floor. Now, I may be the stupid American, and they’re pulling this shit on the stupid American, but that’s what I said. That’s how I took it. Not only was it store credit for this floor, but I also had to use the store credit that same day.

Whatever policies they passed in order for that to happen to me then so be it. But what I realize is that unfortunately, the guy that has to come out and tell me this is just taking orders from the guy that’s in the back, and he won’t come out.

Anyway, to answer your question: weird? I don’t know. It’s hard to say anything is weird here because growing up the way I grew up with my family—it’s all the same. However, the difference really is it’s just kind of the simple logistics of things. It’s so annoying that it turns into a weird thing.

If you were gay would you date Lance Bass?
No. I wouldn’t date Lance Bass. He wouldn’t be my kind of guy. Justin Timberlake would. He brought sexy back, but not Lance Bass.

One thing you’d set fire to or blow up.
Middle management offices for sure. That’ll be one.

The guy at the top, to me, he’s been to the States. He’s been to Europe. He knows better, and all he cares about is making money. You can’t fault that guy, right? And you can’t fault the guy at the bottom that has to deal with me because he’s just taking orders from middle management. And the middle management is the guy that decided. You know, the one whose parents saved all their money to fucking to put him through Ateneo or La Salle or whatever, and now he’s got a reasonable job, and now he can make decisions and takes his authority way over! But the worst thing is that fucker can’t make a decision without asking 15 other guys to make a decision. So it’s decision-making by committee, which never really is efficient.

When I say middle management I mean the kind that don’t have nuts. I’ve met women who were in the middle management sector who have more balls than guys, and that’s because they’re willing to say: “I’m going to make the decision, that’s fine. I think it’s the right decision. It’s a good decision. Some people may disagree with me, but it’s the right decision.”

Middle management lacks accountability. That’s the problem, right? People think that if they make a mistake, and I don’t know how it is. But in the studio, if someone makes a mistake, I’m not going to fire you, but just own up to the fucking thing. Own up. Just say I made a mistake, and I’m sorry. You know, a guy’s late in the studio it’s okay. You’re not going to get fired—just own up. Accountability.

The unfortunate situation that creative directors are in—in my mind, and what I think a lot of people here lack—is when my team succeeds, its those guys get the credit. When it fails, I take the blame.
I have some Philippine clients, but for the most part the rest are on the U.S. side. You know, the major clients we work with—it’s a sense of pride for me to say that these guys did it. These are my guys.

That’s the thing. A lot of companies here won’t admit that they’re doing work here—that the brunt of the work is being done here in the Philippines. I’m insistent. Like, where are you? I’m in the Philippines. I have Filipino designers. They’re designing your product that you’re spending millions of dollars for, and you’re taking a chance on their designs. And I’m putting my name out there, which you guys respect, and I’m backing these guys because I know, I know they can deliver. And they’re going to be better. They’re going to come up with a unique point-of-view that anyone else that you’ve seen in Europe, in U.S., in Japan, and wherever you wanna say high design exists. I’m willing to stake my reputation on these guys. And you know what? They haven’t failed me. They never fail. In fact, they’re always exceeding my expectations. So it’s hard for me to take credit, and I don’t even open my mouth! I’m just like: “What do you guys think?” Don’t worry. We’ll take care of it. If there’s ever a hitch in the team it’s my fault. When they succeed for fuck sure. It’s their success.

If you had a super power what would it be?
I wish I had the Jedi mind trick thing.

Cat or dog?
Dog. Absolutely. Big dog, too. I just find big dogs more affectionate. I find that they’re fucking not fussy. And what I like about big dogs is like [they seem to say]: “Okay. Fun and games are over. How come you haven’t cooked my dinner?” Small dogs want to be fucking rewarded for the fact that they stood up to the big guy and blah blah blah blah blah…The big guy’s like: “What’d you expect? I’m supposed to take care of business.” That’s what I love about them.

If you were the president of the world what would be your first order of business?
Being Filipino and living here now I definitely have to say establishing the Philippines as the creative source of Asia—to start of with. A lot of people in the creative world would say that the Philippines is the “Italy of Asia.” Fuck that. I think Italy is the Philippines of Europe. With all these advertising agencies you’d think they’d do something. No. Does the government try to push something that isn’t going to happen? Push something that’s been around for the last fucking 50 years, and it’s been documented—the Philippines as a creative resource.

Unfortunately, I think that sometimes appreciation of your talent is a reflection in how much you get paid. As a business owner, a lot of people think that successful businesses are a result of how much you personally take in, and now you’re this super rich guy. However, my goal is to make my designers, to pay them just as much as they would make anywhere else in the world. Right? That’s my goal. And to me that’s the ideal successful business. Can a guy pay a guy $200 a month and make millions of dollars a year? I would rather make half a million a year, and pay my designers what all the other designers [around the world] make. That’s a successful business.

Who is your idol?
As far as design is concerned, no one.

[It may be a] cliché [but my idols are] my dad and my grandfather. The truth of the matter is: it’s true. I know it’s not the most interesting, original point-of-view but I’m trying to get my Philippine passport, right? And the NGO says we need your mother’s birth certificate, your father’s birth certificate, and your parents’ marriage certificate, and the fact that since you were born in the States we need your birth certificate certified at whatever. I was able to see my father’s birth certificate and my mother and father’s marriage certificate. My mother’s birth certificate they couldn’t find, but the fact there was a marriage certificate of two Filipino people kind of validates the fact that she was born here. Anyway, I look at my father’s birth certificate, and it lists my grandfather’s occupation as a fucking fisherman. My grandfather, my family settled in Anilao, which is this big super resort now, and it lists his job occupation as a fucking fisherman. Right? And then my father, the son of a fisherman decides to like, fuck it. I’ve got less than 1000 bucks in my pocket, and I’m going to move to the States. While he’s in the States he works as a coal miner of all things. And keep in mind, Abillar doesn’t mean shit. It’s not the same as Lopez, Cojuangco, or Tantoco. It means nothing here in the Philippines. My Father decides he’s going to the States with 500, 700 bucks, whatever. He established himself and makes a living. Then, he sends me to the best college and one of the better undergraduate schools in the States, and then of course to one of the better design schools. I come back to the Philippines, and the guys that my father and my grandfather knew of based on reputation are the people I. Work. With. I don’t even work for them. I work with them, right?

So, if you look at the social leap, over the course of three generations [there were] major leaps! But the only reason why they were major leaps was my grandfather took a chance on my father going to college, my father took a chance on going to the States, and my father said: “You know what? I don’t need you to be a doctor. I don’t need you to be an engineer. I don’t want you to do whatever these Filipino kids are doing. I believe you can do this.” Now I’m back here in the Philippines, and I’m doing what I’m doing. Right? So, you know, those guys took a chance and they really put their necks out on the line and said: “Hey. I believe something could happen.”

Would you ever join a boy band?
At 21, absolutely, but at 35, no way— If I had to join a boy band at my age right now it would be Troop.

Strangest thing about being Filipino?
The fact that I can’t sing or dance. But you know what? It’s just like being blind. They say that your other senses are heightened. So, the fact that I can’t sing or dance gives me heightened abilities in other ways.

Favorite super hero?
Iron Man, and that’s not because of the fucking movie! I’ve always liked Iron Man because he was always a B-class hero.

So, you like red panties? (Queries UNO’s creative director Juan Caguicla)
Yeah. Just as long as they’re titanium.

One word/quote that best describes you?
I would have to say: “I don’t care whether you can or you can’t as long as you believe in your ability to figure it out.”
I never believe a lot of people [when] they say can do this, and they can do that, but what about things they can’t do? My motto means if you believe in your ability to figure it out, then you’re more skilled than the individual who knows everything.

If you were to create an 8th dwarf for Snow White what would his name be?
Hungry.

Tired of these questions yet?
No, no, no. Just keep going—as long as the Jack is flowing.

What question would you like to be asked?
Why my last name means nothing in this country. Why doesn’t it open doors? Why doesn’t it do anything? In reality, it should mean shit! It should mean something.