Wood artist Osmundo Esguerra is proof great things are possible with hard work, determination and love


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“He would caress the wood, as if it were his wife,” artist Yola Johnson says of master artisan Osmundo Esguerra.

Yola, who has been a loyal friend and client of the craftsman, is paying the 75-year-old Osmundo a fitting homage with a book and a solo exhibition of Osmundo’s personal body of work: Osmundo Esguerra Turned Wood opens tonight, Nov 11, at Soumak in the Bormaheco Building in Makati.

Osmundo’s story will most definitely get you inspired. Armed only with an elementary education, a survival instinct and a dream that needed a bigger stage than his family’s plot of land in Nueva Ecija, Osmundo, who is a son of a farmer, set out for Manila’s greener pastures when he was 17 years old. 

He first worked as a janitor but it was Osmundo’s job as a gardener for an American couple living in Philamlife Village that cracked open the door to success. Though it only paid him PHP5 a day, his gardening job helped him grow his clients to include homeowners in San Lorenzo Village in Makati.

Together with a driver from the village, Osmundo put up a cigarette stall in a gas station on the corner of Makati Avenue and Pasay Road. Soon it became a smoking hub for the residents of Makati’s gated residential enclaves, with members of Manila’s chi-chi society and antique peddlers swinging by to buy a pack or two. He called the stall his “office,” where he would start to build his network of antiques suppliers and would-be business partners.

He then started selling brassware from the South, which proved to be very popular with the expatriates living around Makati at that time. Soon, he would be dealing santos, wooden furniture and other merchandise which developed his keen eye for fine objects.

“One day, an agent who made a killing with his treasure trove, decided to take a long break in his province. He endorsed his regular clients, mostly Europeans and airline professionals, to Esguerra,” reports Marge Enriquez on Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Soon, Osmundo became an appraiser, buyer, and restorer for the Heirloom House, an antique store just a short distance from his cigarette stall. He would eventually partner with Manila’s notable dealers, such as Ramon Villegas and Kit Roxas for a succession of stores, such as the Osmundo Gallery he set up in the ’80s at Manila Garden Hotel.

Later on, the Nueva Ecija native would raise enough capital to open his own workshop where he would restore old pieces and make his own wooden furniture and décor articles. “His immersion was complete,” Yola says, for Osmundo would master not just the techniques, but the intricate nuances of his favored medium.

Now 75, Osmundo is given the chance to share what most would perceive as his magnum opus — a collection of pieces that he worked on quietly in a span of 10 years. “He is second to none as far as quality of wood work is to be considered here in the country,” says Yola, “and this exhibition of turned objects will highlight this trademark, his ability to handle wood.”

Osmundo’s delicately carved objects have a special feel about them, perhaps due in part to the his approach. While most carvers are guided by a formulated intent, Osmundo is directed by the inner qualities of the material before him which in his hands, assume gentler dimensions and a sublime final form. 

Osmundo Esguerra Turned Wood Objects opens Nov. 11, at Soumak, Bormaheco Building, 101 Zapote corner Metropolitan Avenue, Makati City.

Photos: Courtesy of Popi Laudico

 



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