Earth, wind and iron: how Yola Johnson's unique design philosophy comes to life in her Manila home

Tatler Asia

14-05-2025

Taste, for Johnson, is as much a function of nurture. 'Taste begins in your mother's womb, as it is instinctive,' she says, continuing to describe an inexplicable factor. 'One's acumen to be able to recognise that which is essential or important or artistic is a big word. It doesn't seem to mean anything, but the artistic element is something undefined you cannot cage it. It is something that you either just know or do not know.'
She narrates that as a child in Santa Ana, Manila, she often found herself lost in nature. 'They would find me on top of a tree, climbing it. I liked to disappear, and they would find me in fields; there was a wildness [in me]. I liked discovering things myself.' Later, her work's anthropological approach would point to these childhood predilections. She affirms, 'If you study where Philippine design originated, you have to go to the tribes from north to south. We are an amalgam of different cultures and influences—to the Malay from the Chinese, the Spanish and the Americans.'
This exposure to different tribes and groups manifests in the choice of materials in Johnson's designs. There is an indigenous quality to the furniture she designs and produces, as if the pieces grew from the ground they now stand on. Early in her career, Johnson found herself gravitating towards fibres and weaves. 'The fibres of our country are the most abundant in the world,' she declares. 'We have thousands of fibres, including the abaca, which is the longest and the strongest fibre in the world!'
Subsequently, when asked what she believes is essentially Filipino in her home, she immediately asserts, 'My favourite thing at home is my binding weave. Every time I see it in the morning, I feel inspired to keep going and to keep doing what I do.' Johnson's binding weave is a very basic, simple weave which she internationally patented. She has dedicated her life to championing and protecting the intellectual property of this weave, which was born of a desire to find 'something that will maximise the potential of the abaca'. Air sign
Above The private living room with a melange of furniture playing with proportion and asymmetry in Yola Johnson's home
Where, as a child, Johnson would be lost in the trees, as an adult she finds herself on top of one of the Philippines' most beautifully designed skyscrapers, occupying an entire floor. The ceilings of Johnson's city flat are spectacularly well-proportioned. 'This home and my Canlubang house both have ceilings. Even my Mindoro house has high ceilings. I need Iots of height, I'm a Gemini and it's an air sign,' she explains.
Art is everywhere in this home. This comes as no surprise since Johnson is a protege of Roberto Chabet, widely regarded as the father of Conceptual Art in the Philippines. The furniture in the home exudes a tactile sculptural quality, managing both an air of independence and total cohesion. This is evident in opposing materials and forms placed closely together; for instance, a modern rounded metallic armchair swirls next to a linear wooden antique chair.
Overall, the home displays a deep understanding of restraint. The decor is punctuated by a rigorous functionality; in some areas, there is a monastic placement of pieces. There is a gentleness in the manner of the decor, colours from pigment and patina are deep and developed. Light streams from large windows all around the home, dressed in voluminous billowing abaca curtains in their natural beige tone. The textile is both soft and structured, resonating with the rest of the home. The furniture in the home playfully employs proportion in a way that evokes feeling, a skill at which Johnson is adept.
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Photo 1 of 4 Melted candles add charm to this traditional chandelier in Yola Johnson's home
Photo 2 of 4 Trinkets collected from Yola Johnson's travels
Photo 3 of 4 Exploring the unique details of Yola Johnson's home
Photo 4 of 4 A glazed bowl in Yola Johnson's home
As a reassurance or a fair warning to the entrants to the home of her anthropological interests, a map called Back to the Drawing Board (Filipinas) by Juan Alcazaren is the welcoming site at the foyer. An etching of the Philippine map is on the board, albeit with place names spelled backwards. It is in a concrete fibre board material, with steel and an LED lamp. The home has two sitting rooms, both lined by Johnson's binding weave rugs. The first is for entertaining guests where two sofas—one, smaller sculpted wood and the other, a significantly larger one upholstered with soft cloud-like white linen—diagonally face one another.
Behind the white sofa, is an unusual 15-ft-long wooden Filipino bangko or bench which needs an extra pillar in the centre to help prop it up so it does not snap. Painted in a light eggshell beige, the colours of the walls change with the time of day. In a corner, a chaise lounge covered in chocolate leather is beside an oversized floor lamp forming the boundaries of the sitting room. At its centre, a large burl and copper coffee table contrasts with the wooden armchair in the corner. A large artwork by Nilo Illarde called Wall Interventions 1, 2, and 4 is embedded on the wall. The work itself displays materials whose diversity seem to agree in a unified display of material honesty. Nothing ever pretends to be anything other than what it is made of—wood, metal, paper, fibre and glass.
Above The four black paintings on the walls are part of Yola Johnson's early works
Above Proportion at play in this guest room, with an oversized table lamp
Above Exploring the unique details of Yola Johnson's home
The second sitting room is in a similar colour to the first, reaffirming Johnson's consistency. A more intimate space filled with personal mementos such as books and children's furniture, it displays things of sentiment. The placement of children's furniture alongside full-sized pieces is again a play on proportion. An offshoot of this sitting room is a den covered in the deepest indigo. Sumptuous fabrics wrap the couch and throw pillows.
The two sitting rooms are cohesive and contrasting, similar but at once so different. Across the first sitting room is the dining area where a sizable metallic chandelier hangs above two wooden rectangular tables, placed together to form a square. The central light fixture designed by Johnson is visually impressive, a tornado of metallic winged bulbs suggestive of birds, yet whose primary shape, the bulb, is closer in shape to that of an egg. Its scale is so immense it could have dwarfed everything surrounding it. Yet, it acts almost as an umbrella that covers everything with its light.
One notable bedroom is bathed in a decidedly blushed pink hue in its walls and ceilings, trimmed in a darker variation of the shade. A traditional European-style crystal chandelier in a mix of clear crystal and deep pink accents hangs above, providing a contrast to the more organically shaped bed, which has been upholstered in a classic toile. Forged by nature
Above Yola Johnson's bedroom in pink hues is complemented by a red ceiling
Johnson's home serves as a masterclass in elegance and simplicity. The notion that our planet is an abundant, beautiful one is a message that the flat seems to deliver effortlessly. The purity of the materials serves as a reminder of how important it is to take care of our surroundings. When asked about how best to choose things for one's home, her response is undoubtedly meditative: 'You look at the object and you fall in love with that object. When you bring it to your home, that object will find its place in your space.'
She continues, 'I just put it on the floor and then live with it for days, weeks or months. Maybe then that object will eventually tell you where to be positioned. For me, that's the way to do your interiors. You do not look for the object that you will put inside a certain space. The object will tell you where it will go.' Johnson ends our conversation with an anecdote, 'Somebody approached me and asked, ''You haven't done your art for so long. You haven't done any exhibition or anything. Why don't you go back to your art?'' Johnson laughs at how absurd she believes the question to be. She continues, 'My art? I never left it. What I'm doing is my art.'
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Credits
Photography: Kevin Vicencio