Our annual family Christmas and New Year greeting cards shoot!
Showing posts with label faith. Show all posts
Showing posts with label faith. Show all posts
Sunday, December 21, 2014
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
what happened last year - thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is primarily a very American holiday, but having been raised in a city in the Philippines where American Baptist missionaries took good roots, we have been celebrating it all our lives. And besides, thanksgiving is such a universal celebration these days...
So it's only natural that we prepped up our Cambodian home for this holiday. I had an event organized for Guerlain Paris the month before so, I ended up with tons of scrap metal that I turned into two outdoor lounges.
We made and screen printed special throw pillows for the dinner with the names of our guests and guests-to-be (Obama and Hillary were too busy that evening)
We set our table with sculptures from Bill Bensley's Fantastical Creatures Exhibit and some bounty from the harvest (harvest at the supermarket, that is). We also made special placemats and coasters which stated things we were thankful for...
By dusk, the al fresco corner of the house was ready and so was dinner!
Me, my wife Faith, Don, Sheree (fresh from Newcastle, flown in especially for the Wanderlust fashion shoot) American authors Shannon and Jason and of course, Liz!
Our menu included stuffed chicken (turkey was too darn hard to find in Cambodia!), roast potatoes, buttered peas and veggies, battered fish, prawn cakes, pasta, stuffed pumpkin dessert, cream cheese cake, etc... Jason and Shannon brought a super cool drink that they concocted themselves!
Inside, we had our tree set up too for the holidays...
Guests got to bring their pillows as souvenirs!
A few days later, we had dinner with some new friends... Max, who's Vietnamese-French, Rachel, from the US, who's opening a boutique next door to us at the Alley West and Ruben from Mexico.
We definitely love welcoming friends to our home!
So it's only natural that we prepped up our Cambodian home for this holiday. I had an event organized for Guerlain Paris the month before so, I ended up with tons of scrap metal that I turned into two outdoor lounges.
We made and screen printed special throw pillows for the dinner with the names of our guests and guests-to-be (Obama and Hillary were too busy that evening)
We set our table with sculptures from Bill Bensley's Fantastical Creatures Exhibit and some bounty from the harvest (harvest at the supermarket, that is). We also made special placemats and coasters which stated things we were thankful for...
By dusk, the al fresco corner of the house was ready and so was dinner!
Me, my wife Faith, Don, Sheree (fresh from Newcastle, flown in especially for the Wanderlust fashion shoot) American authors Shannon and Jason and of course, Liz!
Our menu included stuffed chicken (turkey was too darn hard to find in Cambodia!), roast potatoes, buttered peas and veggies, battered fish, prawn cakes, pasta, stuffed pumpkin dessert, cream cheese cake, etc... Jason and Shannon brought a super cool drink that they concocted themselves!
Inside, we had our tree set up too for the holidays...
Guests got to bring their pillows as souvenirs!
A few days later, we had dinner with some new friends... Max, who's Vietnamese-French, Rachel, from the US, who's opening a boutique next door to us at the Alley West and Ruben from Mexico.
We definitely love welcoming friends to our home!
Friday, January 15, 2010
family portraits
Our not-so-little boy came home to Cambodia last month with Nanie, my mom and my sister and made our holidays the best we've ever had. It was our first Christmas and New Year altogether so we had to do our portraits!
My son, Freedom, all grown up!
The two of us doing a Lacoste ad!
Family snaps
Our Family! From left: my mom Love, my sister Love Grace, Don - the high priest of Cambodian avant garde fashion, my wife Faith, our son Freedom and Nanie.
My son, Freedom, all grown up!
The two of us doing a Lacoste ad!
Family snaps
Our Family! From left: my mom Love, my sister Love Grace, Don - the high priest of Cambodian avant garde fashion, my wife Faith, our son Freedom and Nanie.
Friday, January 16, 2009
bag bug!
My wife's obsession for Louis Vuitton is unparalleled, and as a loving, obedient husband, I have no choice but to fulfill her lust for the monogram every once and a while. But since the financial crunch has cast an uncertain twilight on the consumer-trodden world (I just love using that excuse these days!), it simply means I can't afford to give her a new bag every time Marc Jacobs releases a new line every season.
So it is with this bleak financial incapacity that has pushed my creative juices and my shrinking wallet into crisscrossing boundaries...
If you can't buy your wife a Louis Vuitton bag... then make one!
Or better yet, make a couple. Then sell it as an exclusive line of bags and make money out of it!
So the idea of making my own bags for my wife and for women (and men) like her came into being. I thought of designing the bag in itself in the shape of a pocket, so it conjures accessibility, practicality and well, just for the fact that I like that shape. And since eco bags are all the rage these days, it couldn't have fit more perfectly! Don's seamstress does the basic stitching while my Khmer staff does the silkscreen printing and detailing.
The first bag I made was the "can't afford Louis Vuitton" and it was all sold out in the shop in a matter of days. I had to make a 2nd series, this time on black stretch denim. "The devil also wears Vuitton" is a new batch.
This bag was inspired by my designer friend Elizabeth Kiester who moved from New York as a fashion icon to Siem Reap and opened her own shop. The NY side is on the other side of the SR side- so you can actually have two bag designs!
This is inspired by my friend Don who has been bugging me to give him a Balenciaga motorcycle bag for Christmas, but with a retail price of $1,730 (78,000pesos), I think it'll still be a while before I could afford to give it to him... so this is perhaps the next best thing!
Inspired by car bumper stickers...
This book-inspired statement has also been getting good mileage from buyers...
The Obama bag has also been a big riot in the shop the moment I placed it on the rack! One freaky buyer exclaimed: "Oh my God, I've got to have that in my life!"
Although I have never bought my wife a pair of Louboutins (or Blahniks), I thought that this would be cool... some bags like this have different treatments like beadworks, embroidery, tassels and what-nots.
My wife told me that when I get rich enough as an artist (as rich as Damien Hirst or Murakami), she'd like to quit her job and become a trophy wife!
So I told her also that if she gets rich enough as a marketing consultant for a global firm, I told her that I also would love to stop working, close my shop and be a trophy husband!
Each bag which comes in a limited edition of 3 or 6 pieces per design retails exclusively at The One Gallery by the Alley for $25 (1,250 pesos) each.
So it is with this bleak financial incapacity that has pushed my creative juices and my shrinking wallet into crisscrossing boundaries...
If you can't buy your wife a Louis Vuitton bag... then make one!
Or better yet, make a couple. Then sell it as an exclusive line of bags and make money out of it!
So the idea of making my own bags for my wife and for women (and men) like her came into being. I thought of designing the bag in itself in the shape of a pocket, so it conjures accessibility, practicality and well, just for the fact that I like that shape. And since eco bags are all the rage these days, it couldn't have fit more perfectly! Don's seamstress does the basic stitching while my Khmer staff does the silkscreen printing and detailing.
The first bag I made was the "can't afford Louis Vuitton" and it was all sold out in the shop in a matter of days. I had to make a 2nd series, this time on black stretch denim. "The devil also wears Vuitton" is a new batch.
This bag was inspired by my designer friend Elizabeth Kiester who moved from New York as a fashion icon to Siem Reap and opened her own shop. The NY side is on the other side of the SR side- so you can actually have two bag designs!
This is inspired by my friend Don who has been bugging me to give him a Balenciaga motorcycle bag for Christmas, but with a retail price of $1,730 (78,000pesos), I think it'll still be a while before I could afford to give it to him... so this is perhaps the next best thing!
Inspired by car bumper stickers...
This book-inspired statement has also been getting good mileage from buyers...
The Obama bag has also been a big riot in the shop the moment I placed it on the rack! One freaky buyer exclaimed: "Oh my God, I've got to have that in my life!"
Although I have never bought my wife a pair of Louboutins (or Blahniks), I thought that this would be cool... some bags like this have different treatments like beadworks, embroidery, tassels and what-nots.
My wife told me that when I get rich enough as an artist (as rich as Damien Hirst or Murakami), she'd like to quit her job and become a trophy wife!
So I told her also that if she gets rich enough as a marketing consultant for a global firm, I told her that I also would love to stop working, close my shop and be a trophy husband!
Each bag which comes in a limited edition of 3 or 6 pieces per design retails exclusively at The One Gallery by the Alley for $25 (1,250 pesos) each.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
fashion calls...
A new photographer from the Philippines - Vincent, has recently joined our SPOOLWORKS team straight from Olongapo to help me out with my photography projects for the high season. So we were out to test his skills and also to shoot the latest collection of designer friend Don Protasio who recently showed at the Philippine Fashion Week. Don was lucky enough to find a great model - Holly Grabareck who hails from Singapore. She is part Chinese, American and Polish but was born and bred in the island state. Models don't get more exotic than her!
Don's black and white pieces layered on a symphony of jersey, cotton and knits...
Don's hottest pieces are actually the shoes. These gladiator shoes he designed are selling like crazy online and at the One Gallery. These are made here in Cambodia.
Don sells his collections exclusively at the One Gallery in Siem Reap, Cambodia and at Backstage at Serendra in Manila, Philippines. 
photos by Loven Ramos & Vincent Rufo
We have been looking for a place to house Don's collections apart from our gallery, but after some frustrating attempts, we have decided to renovate the second floor of our house as both a studio for me and Don where we could welcome clients but by appointment only.
This shoot is actually for a brochure we are doing for him...
Don's black and white pieces layered on a symphony of jersey, cotton and knits...
These are part of Don's classic line but as of the moment, we are experimenting on printing our own designs on his fabrics for the next season...
Don's hottest pieces are actually the shoes. These gladiator shoes he designed are selling like crazy online and at the One Gallery. These are made here in Cambodia.
Don is cooking up a fashion show next month here in Siem Reap together with Madagascaran designer Eric Raisina who supplies fabrics for Christian Lacroix and Yves Saint Laurent in Paris...
Don sells his collections exclusively at the One Gallery in Siem Reap, Cambodia and at Backstage at Serendra in Manila, Philippines.
photos by Loven Ramos & Vincent Rufo
make up by Faith Famoso Ramos
model: Holly Grabareck
The team including Brewster Bonifacio and Kaoru Sato
The team including Brewster Bonifacio and Kaoru Sato
shot on location at Friends Center, Siem Reap Cambodia
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