Tuesday, January 23, 2007

InFurness!

This month's Trend Alert of Elle Decor (US) features the most exotic texture for interiors and fashion--Fur.

About two years ago, in one of my regular visits to my home town- San Jose de Buenavista in Antique, I happen to drop-by (I make it a point to drop-by actually, everytime I go home) the public market and got to check the relip stalls. In Baguio, they call it Ukay-ukay. Relip from the word 'relief' meaning second hand items given to the third world by first world countries as donations and upon reaching the provinces, becomes a large scale industry made legal by the local government. Anyway, going back, it was the time that I was checking through the bed sheets sold (mostly silk, mind you!) and I saw this authentic sheep's hide. Not knowing the value of such, the tindera tagged it at thirty pesos. Got it for twenty.

A year has passed and I almost forgot about it until I saw one of those faux skins sold by carpet world. The texture is almost like the real thing yet it's too clean and cut in almost-same-shape-but-not-so kind of thing. Punchline-- it's priced more than four thousand pesos. I need one for my plastic study chair at home. But I will not pay that much for some acrylic blend.

I asked my mom about the rug I bought and she told me they threw it away since it was already disintegrating.

Then I saw one in About Home Furnitures (I'm no Jean Edades but I sure know there is no such word as 'furnitures'). The kind owner priced it at six grand. It's the real thing. Complete with irregularities in color and texture. I'm so tempted, yet I was out of cash during that time.
But I saw another hide in Shell Canvas in Glorietta. Its fox with the head. A bit scary though. Though a number of it, if you remove the head, would make a good rug.


As I was contemplating about it, I saw this video in the net on fur farms in china.

I think, I should go with the acrylic blends.

3 comments:

rmacapobre said...

i thought that fur is illegal ..

decorator said...

it is.. that is why they are using faux ones...

Anonymous said...

In the Visayas, lots of people still say "relip" or "rilip". Nice blog! :D

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=108796934098&ref=ts

A facebook group about rilipan/relipan