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The world-famous natural beauty of the Philippines offers a unique architectural style to its inhabitants - one that takes basic ingredients, such as grass, shell, stone and wood - and moulds them into a living whole. "Filipino Style" takes a journey from the purely Filipino roots of Nipa huts (native grass huts) and Bahay na Bato (stone houses) to the fruits of trade with China and the colonial influences of Spanish architecture. This rich cultural diversity and American-influenced flair is the cocktail from which this remarkable style originates. Filipino furniture is developed in tandem with the architecture which surrounds it, made from the same materials, following identical responses to the environment. Today, this furniture is exported world-wide and Filipino wood carving and cane weave is just as likely to be found in a penthouse apartment in New York as it is to be found on any one of the 7,000 odd islands that make up the Philippine archipelago. Original and hugely successful, the Filipino style is portrayed in this spectacular work with brilliant colour photographs and perceptive commentary.

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