REDEFINING HOME

STEPHANIE COYIUTO-TAY On Breathing Life To Living Spaces In Changing Times

- KATHERINE ALAMARES

Stephanie Coyiuto-Tay knows the joy that good design brings to our living spaces. “Home furnishing is very personal,” says the co-founder of Casa Bella Home & Living and DesignStory.

Over the years, she and her husband Joseph Tay have built strong relationships with clients whose design needs were the origins of the couple’s other exciting ventures. These include Fig & Vine Floral Studio, a new bar design concept at DesignStory, office furniture company ContractWorld, and Taylor Living, which offers American contemporary pieces.

Coyiuto-Tay is touched deeply to know that has done a project well as this gives a deeper meaning to her work. It means that “the trust went beyond the home furnishing but to the family’s general lifestyle,” she says.

Stenie, as family and good friends call her, shares she got her passion for design from her mother, Elena, who she describes as a “person of eclectic tastes.” Her mom appreciates contemporary and classic designs, often mixing iconic European pieces with Philippine Art. This heavily influenced Coyiuto-Tay’s taste: she fell in love with modern and minimalist pieces, more than her husband. Fortunately, they found a way to compromise their preferences.

Now, she describes their abode as “transitional.” This versatility carries on to how she manages all their businesses amid the ongoing global crisis.