THE COLLEGE of Tourism and Hospitality Management (CTHM) and the College of Fine Arts and Design (CFAD) melded aesthetics and hospitality in the exhibit “Fyu-Jon: A Fusion Festival of Food, Arts and Businesses.”
Held last March 3 to 5 at the Plaza Mayor of UST, the event was a collaboration of third- and fourth-year students of CTHM, as well as Interior Design students from CFAD.
“This event celebrates the union of not only art and business,” Angela Zuriel C. Panlaqui, officer in charge of Fyu-jon, said. “It is also a partnership between the participating colleges. More importantly, it celebrates fusion cuisine — the combination of traditional cuisines of different cultures into an innovative dish.”
Third year CTHM students drew their own storefront concepts of bars and restaurants from feasibility studies they had conducted. The concepts were executed by CFAD students. CTHM seniors organized the event-exhibit.
The third day was highlighted by skills demonstration, such as “flairtending” (mixing drinks while performing) and cocktail mixing. Celebrity chef Nino Logarta did a cooking demonstration, while the Philippine Center for Creative Imaging gave a food photography workshop.
“Many are now seeking fusion,” CTHM acting dean Tio Cuison said. “[And] it is certainly the way to go.”
Novel ideas
Class 3H2’s Green Solace Hotel was a business hotel in Makati with an ecological trust. The model’s storefront showed a room in green and earth tones with woven furniture. The perspective designs of the other rooms were also rendered with the nature theme in mind.
“Green Solace came from the eco-friendly direction our group decided to take,” Jaycee Faminialagao, the group leader and store manager, told the Varsitarian. “From the name, Green Solace, you can see what the hotel promotes. ‘Green’ is for nature, while ‘solace’ stands for the serenity, the comfort that we want to give our clients.”
For design partner Carlo Garcia, an interior design student, said the environmental theme came later. “I actually found out about the theme later in the whole process,” he said. “It was probably serendipity that they thought of doing a modern hotel with an environmental twist.”
Class 3H5’s Beyond Bar & Resto, according to group leader Ana Mabaquiao, was a “futuristic yet cozy place to hang out.” The bar had the most streamlined logo in its cluster, and it blended well with the store’s design. Done mainly in black, the area was lit up by pin lights, giving it a laid-back but trendy ambiance. Design partners for Beyond were Interior Design students Bianca Tan and Lianne Lim.
Class 3H3’s PinaSarap was a study on Filipino cuisine. Group head Kristine Marie E. Mogando said the in-store design would remind one of ancestral homes, with wrought-iron chairs and a brick-layered main counter. The store’s name was a portmanteau—“Pinas,” from the abbreviated form of Pilipinas and “sarap,” the Filipino word for delicious. Their hosts offered free samples of coconut sherbet. UST Rector Fr. Rolando Dela Rosa, O.P., who passed by the exhibit, praised the sherbet.
“I am proud of (our CTHM students,)” the Rector told the Varsitarian. “The exhibit is inventive and innovative.” Marian Leana T. De la Cruz
