Perry Mamaril

(b. 1960, Camiling, Tarlac, the Philippines)

Perry Mamaril’s work resonates from traditional and contemporary Philippine bamboo craft-making. His large-scale bamboo lamp sculptures are delicate and visceral. The bare structural forms of overlapping bamboo strips are shaped into rounded forms: a sting ray, a jelly fish, a whale, or something that resembles a boat. Handmade paper is used to diffuse lighting. But it is placed from the inside, exposing the bamboo casing that properly makes use of the structural integrity inherent in the material.

Over decades, his practice has remained resolute and pragmatic. He grew up in Balatoc, a mining town in Benguet, and much later, moved to New York City and lived there for over twenty years, working as an artist and expanding his craft to include facets of lighting and interior design. He has also worked many kitchens where soon he’d become a chef, reflecting on tastes of home, of the sea and the tropical highlands. As with his art, he welcomed the experience of being part of a diaspora and the resilience needed in navigating that world.

Mamaril lives and works in Camiling, Tarlac and Baguio City, the Philippines.