‘I do not follow rules when I design,’ says way of life guru Rachelle Wenger • PhilSTAR Life

I’ve all the time believed that a sublime way of life could be discovered. Not within the superficial sense of merely shopping for lovely issues or copying another person’s aesthetic, however in actually studying the right way to create magnificence in on a regular basis life. I believe that fascination started years in the past once I first found Entertaining by Martha Stewart. I grew to become absorbed in its world, the place homemaking was approached with creativity and intention. It was not nearly recipes or internet hosting dinners. It was gardening, flowers, desk settings, group, pet care and all of the little rituals that make a house really feel private and alive. She made way of life really feel like an artwork type. Even now, her peony backyard stays my dream. 

Over the years, I discovered myself drawn to ladies who approached way of life in an identical method, individuals who understood that class typically comes from thoughtfulness moderately than extravagance. One of them is Rachelle Castañeda-Wenger, an inside design advisor, who conducts workshops on adorning, homekeeping, entertaining, etiquette, decluttering, tablescaping and social graces. 

I just lately attended her Decorating and Homekeeping workshop held in her penthouse dwelling, and what instantly stood out was how snug and private the expertise felt. Her penthouse house overlooks town by means of dramatic glass partitions, with excessive ceilings that fill the rooms with pure gentle. Yet regardless of the size of the house, it nonetheless feels heat and lived-in moderately than overly styled. Her eclectic interiors are layered with collected objects, books, ornamental items, homeware and private touches gathered by means of years of household life and journey. Rachelle describes her fashion as “a collective,” which feels becoming as a result of the house doesn’t comply with one strict aesthetic. Instead, it tells her story.

“I do not follow rules when I design,” she shared. “I trust my eye and instincts. I feel it’s one of the gifts given to me to give joy to others.” Her design philosophy is direct: “Be true to yourself. Follow your instinct. Be unique and observe when you travel or go to well-appointed spaces. Be curious. Design is cerebral, too, which starts visually.” 

That intuition seems to have began early. She describes her mom as “the original Martha Stewart,” proficient in cooking, gardening, adorning and floral preparations, although she provides with humor that her mom “cannot wrap a gift to save her life.” From her father, she inherited group and precision. “I then got the organizational skills and dexterity of my dad with wrapping, album-making and his brilliance in math and academics which is needed in a creative business.” 

Her eye for design finally grew to become noticeable to others when she embellished her household’s first dwelling in Hong Kong. “Everyone thought it was professionally designed, and the rest is history,” she recalled. “It was the love for the home that started me on this path.” 

Her family life has additionally formed her sense of dwelling. Rachelle met her Swiss husband when he was an expatriate chef for Shangri-La Manila, and so they have been married for nearly 29 years. His work as an govt chef introduced them to Hong Kong, Bangkok, and finally again to Manila, the place they determined to place down roots. Their two sons have been born abroad. Their eldest graduated in Literary Studies from Utrecht University within the Netherlands, whereas their youngest has studied Data Science and Computer Programming at TU Delft and the University of Amsterdam. 

The workshop itself didn’t really feel like a proper seminar. There have been no PowerPoint shows or a inflexible agenda. Instead, the afternoon unfolded extra like a gathering amongst ladies who shared an curiosity in homemaking, adorning, and creating significant areas. Conversations moved naturally from entertaining to group, from styling cabinets to managing on a regular basis life at dwelling. Rachelle walked individuals by means of completely different areas of her house, explaining how she approached sure areas and why explicit items mattered to her. She additionally shared components of her homeware and plate collections. It ended with extra chatter and mingling among the many women able to devour specialties from a formidable buffet set-up. And every left with a stunning giveaway.

Rachelle began holding workshops round 2017, initially by invitation and principally in her dwelling. “I started with the purpose of making a better and more intentional world and life for all. Sharing my knowledge and skills with others,” she defined. At the start, her viewers was principally ladies and their kids, as she additionally performed etiquette workshops for teenagers and youngsters. “It was really promoting a well-loved home environment and everything related to it,” she stated. “I tried to also teach what I see is lacking in the world today, like social graces, manners, etc.” 

The workshops started after the late Maureen Soong inspired her to do one for The Makati Garden Club. From there, Rachelle’s classes expanded to mates, organizations, and collaborations with Rustan’s, Enderun, SOFA, Entrepreneurs’ Organization, West Elm, Estate Makati X Statement Theory and others. She has additionally performed an etiquette workshop for college students of Assumption. 

Among her hottest workshops is decluttering, a topic many individuals immediately appear desirous to study extra about. But Rachelle approaches it otherwise from the standard organizational recommendation. “People seem to have a hard time doing this,” she stated. “I have a different take on Decluttering as I believe it should start from decluttering inside—whether mental or emotional—to successfully declutter one’s surroundings.” It is a perspective that shifts decluttering away from mere storage options and into one thing extra reflective. As she additionally suggested throughout the workshop, one ought to maintain solely what is beneficial and delightful. 

Outside design and workshops, Rachelle can be deeply energetic in church and charitable work. She has been a lector at Santuario de San Antonio for 19 years and a CCD trainer or catechist for 16 years. She was additionally editor-in-chief of the parish bulletin throughout the pandemic years and is now one in every of its assistant editors. She is concerned within the Scholarship Committee, PAMANA, the group serving to construct St. Clare of Assisi Parish in Malabon, Busog Puso/Biyaya, and a Rosary group that has prayed each day for the previous six years. 

When requested how she describes herself regardless of the various roles she balances, her reply is easy. “Firstly, I am really a child of God. Everything I do, all the talents people see is just a reflection of His gifts. I intend to use them to glorify Him and make this world a better place.” She added that whereas she is grateful when individuals name her their “peg” or describe her as a “purveyor of beauty,” she believes it should transcend appearances. “I think what goes inside shows on the outside; beauty should always come from within for it to have a lasting effect.” 

Perhaps that’s what makes her workshops resonate. They are usually not actually about perfection or creating magazine-ready houses. They are about studying by means of dialog, demonstration and instance. They are about seeing how a desk is ready, how a room is layered, how collections are saved, how muddle is edited, and the way a house can carry the story of a household.

In the tip, a refined way of life will not be discovered in a single grand lesson. Sometimes, it’s discovered in a e book. Sometimes, it’s by means of journey and publicity to “good things.” Sometimes, it’s discovered in somebody’s dwelling, over a day of dialog, meals, tales, and sensible recommendation.