Create your own visual style... let it be unique for yourself and yet identifiable for others.
(Orson Welles)
DESIGNER Ito Curata brought out the grand and regal through his work. Just ask two of his most prominent patrons, actress Sharon Stone and President Gloria Arroyo. They'd agree: his creations convey class and dignity.
Ito recalled his fashion foray into Hollywood started when he met a guy from Miramax Pictures, who ignited a chain of connection to the stars. After meeting key people, he was asked to send several of his gowns to Stone, and pretty soon, he found himself being flown in to the actress' mansion for a fitting.
Upon his return to the Philipines, his amazing eye for detail caught the attention of Jo Ann Zapanta, who handled President Arroyo's fashion and wardrobe makeover. Before her most recent State of the Nation Address, Ito was again asked to dress the president.
"The president just arrived from Italy and I only had 3 days to work on the gown. I worked day and night to finish it in time for the State of the Nation Address," he recalls with a laugh.
Ito kept the his signature panuelo over the president's gown. Instead of blue, the president's appointed color in 2005, she addressed Congress and the nation in fiery red. Ito also modified her necklace, from a single round piece, to three.
The president personally signed a "thank you" message for Ito on the gown's sketch spread.
GLEANING from his evening wear pieces, it's no wonder that from the outside, Ito's home is also the picture of regality and grand proportion. Inside, Doric columns and
wide spaces paint a breath-taking vista.
Ito said what started as a strictly "Tuscan" design for his home has been modified to accommodate pieces he shipped from his crib in San Francisco.
A combination of select French and Italian pieces lend an "eclectic" Mediterranean feel, as he would describe it, to his home.
Ito designed his space himself. He drew his inspiration from unforgettable houses he found in his travels. His walls are full of authentic paintings, sketches and lithographs of honored painters like Picasso and Salvador Dali.
Particularly eye-catching are Picasso's lithographs hanging by his washroom on the ground floor. Freshening up at the washroom also meant communing with the bold, eccentric painter.
Ito said he won his art pieces in auctions, including a handwritten executive order from the president of the first Philippine Republic, Emilio Aguinaldo.
Going into the kitchen, nostrils are filled with the appetizing smell of sandwiches and cold lemonade. Ito loves to cook, and prides himself on baking his own biscotti. 
Leading to the second floor is a grand staircase, with a replica of a classical painting midway.
Ito's taste for the grand is also reflected in his bedroom. A large bed with two bed posts
reigns over a room with a view to a golf range.
When asked if this is his dream home, "Yes! This is it. I set out to build my dream house in the Philippines because I can't afford to build something like this in San Francisco," said Ito.
A modest quip from a grand designer.
(The full story appears on Urban Zone, 12 midnight, December 10, over ABS-CBN Channel 2 =)
