Designers seek inspiration from the most mundane events; they see everyday forms from more than one perspective. Introduce and reinvent newfound concepts that have never once been pondered upon. That’s the beauty of design, is it not? How there are a thousand and one ways to interpret one word, a million ways to see a craft. Beatrice ‘Bea’ Panlilio-Valdes is no different, yet distinctive all the same.
Most known as Bea Valdes, the designer is now the founder and COO of Bea Valdes Design and is personally featured in Asia’s Most Influential PH of 2021. Featured in Vogue and granted Tatler’s Most Stylish Lady twice, Bea Valdes continues to exhibit creativity and expert
craftsmanship in her designs.
The impact of her name most likely started with her application to the Central Saint Martin
Academy for Jewellery Design, which included the use of semi-precious stones as handbags,
which, once launched in 2000, became a trend among women. Since then, she has become
recognized for luxurious designs and crafts made of precious stones and crystals. In fact, as a
memorable feat for the designer at the time, supermodel Kate Moss wore one of hers in the
September 2009 issue of Vogue, which only cemented Bea Valdes’ influence in fashion and
accessories.
The designer takes pride in her craftsmanship and community; her designs reflect sophistication, tradition, and careful production with the utmost skill. A most prominent demonstration of how the material is art itself.
In 2019, Silverlens gave Bea Valdes a spotlight for a very notable installation art piece: Flux.
Flux appeared to be in the midst of falling apart or rising forward. Either way, it is in a constant state of stillness and movement, of strength and weakness, of elegance and crumble. A reflection of an artist’s ode to time and art, to the world and to themselves.
"To expose the process as it is conceived, altered and then pulled apart again."
Flux is not the product of the work, but the work itself.
The shapeless yet distinguished forms of an art that travel through and with time, such as the
work and minds of artists alike and different, the daze in which the painter works while placing one fine stroke of brush, the haze in which the craftsmen mold, break, and piece together a single stone, a significant, tiny part of a glorious piece. The state that is lost and familiar to many. The dream that brings reality, a reflection of the artists’ work and mind, of their process, beginning, and goal, is Flux.
"We freed ourselves from the walls; we freed ourselves from the shape."
Bea Valdes, through her crafts, her story, and her vision, told us what was left unsaid and yet
misunderstood.
No such constraint should exist between an artist and their vision or between a designer and their craft. The message and existence of Flux may serve as a reminder of the limited-time yet unlimited journey that an artist may take. That there is no barrier between an artist and their dream. Not even time.
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