“An instinct for good design, coupled with their razor-sharp wit and generous spirit, defines the dynamic tandem of Rita Nazareno and Gabriel Lichauco.”

—V. Montenegro, 2021

 

About

Designers Rita Nazareno and Gabriel Lichauco have been collaborating on projects since 2016: curating collections, mentoring designers, and developing new product designs and concepts for numerous brands. Their work has highlighted contemporaneity and innovation in traditional craft and materials.

Nazareno/Lichauco curated the 2019 Philippine participation at Maison et Objet Paris under Kindred Design Collective for Citem’s Design Philippines. They have since done the creative direction for the 2020-2022 Maison et Objet editions.

They also curated the 2020 design exhibition ITIM: Material Manipulations in Black, originally slated for Milan Design Week’s Fuorisalon, and reinstalled in Manila and online at FAME Plus.

  • Rita Nazareno

    Rita Nazareno is an Emmy award-winning former Television Creative Services Producer whose shift to design is a product of passion and family ties. She is the Creative Director of ZACARIAS1925, a brand of hand-woven bags and home accessories that places a contemporary thrust in the traditional craft of hand-weaving—made at the S.C. Vizcarra Workshop, founded in 1925 by her grandmother.

    Nazareno holds Design & Creative Process workshops and talks for varied institutions such as Watari Museum’s On Sundays Tokyo, Nomi Network Phnom Penh, Museum of Contemporary Art and Design Manila, and Selvedge World Fair London. She holds a Master’s Degree in Communication Arts from AAU San Francisco and Design Management from London College of Fashion. Nazareno has participated in international tradeshows in Milan, Florance, Paris, Dusseldorf, London, Singapore, and Tokyo.

  • Gabriel Lichauco

    Designer, Curator, and Creative Director Gabriel Lichauco holds a Master’s Degree in Industrial Design from Schuola Politecnica di Design in Milan. A seasoned exhibitor at various international tradeshows and exhibits, Lichauco has participated in the 2017 Venice Art Biennale, 2016 XXI Triennale and several editions of Salone Internaionale del Mobile di Milano.

    He is a professor of Design and Heads of Special Projects at the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, School of Design and Arts. Lichauco, who has been practicing design since 2001, is the founder of Openstudio, a multi-disciplinary design consultancy that focuses on space, installations and objects, and Newfolk, a creative platform for innovative designers, artists and producers. In 2020, Lichauco was named one of Asia’s “100 Leading Designers” in Design in Asia: The New Wave.