THE SHAPIN FUTURE

Pratt Institute President Frances Bronet finds out how their alums have been making an impact on the Filipino design ecosystem

- Franz Sorilla IV

When Doris Magsaysay Ho visited the Brooklyn campus of Pratt Institute last February, it was to reminisce about her student years, catch up with friends on the faculty and staff, and see how far her alma mater has developed. It was where she finished her master’s degree in industrial design in 1980, which proved instrumental to her career growth before stepping into the family business. On her visit, Magsaysay Ho met Pratt’s current president, Frances Bronet, a trailblazer in the arts and design education. A month later, it was Magsaysay Ho’s turn to welcome Bronet and her colleagues to the Philippines.

“I’m a Pratt graduate, but I never knew that all of you were also graduates until we started planning this!” Magsaysay Ho exclaimed during the intimate lunch she hosted. Later that evening, she hosted a dinner for the Pratt team at her house, where the rest of the alumni joined in.

“Doris is a force to reckon with,” commented Bronet on how diligent Magsaysay Ho made their threeday tour happen. The relationship between the institution and its Filipino graduates has been strong for years: Kenneth Cobonpue lectured at Pratt a few years ago, and it had Anina Gayla as a former colleague. But never in its history had the school’s president and some top officials visited Metro Manila to see the works of the alums. conversation after the tours with the alumni. “I just saw myself as somebody equal to whomever I was working with,” she said. Realising that gender inequality in workspaces happened later in her life, she nevertheless has always been headstrong and focused on getting things done.