ABOUT

My Story

Idr. Wilhelmina “Willie” S. Garcia is a green designer and licensed interior designer from Biñan, Laguna, Philippines. She is a graduate of Interior Design at St. Scholastica’s College, Manila and attended a social entrepreneurship program at Youth Encounter Sustainability (YES) held in Armenia, Colombia. She is a member of PIID (Philippine Institute of Interior Design) since 2006.

Willie’s journey in green design started with her exposure from coastal and barangay clean-ups organized by environmental groups. In one of the clean-ups she organized with her sister, conservationist Liza Dans, she realized that most of the trash collected ended up in the landfill. Through her practice, she sought to find solutions to keep plastic out of landfills and incinerators. She started designing interiors using recycled materials.

In 2007, she won the interior design grand prize of Metrobank Art and Design Excellence (MADE) National Competition because of her creative and tasteful use of old construction materials from demolished houses.


Motivated by her win, she worked towards making her green design practice sustainable. In 2009, she founded her interior design company Junknot.

Willie’s initial foray in product design was in fashion accessories, mainly bags. In 2013, she expanded her work into furniture, first by designing her first chairs at her siblings’ restaurant Balik Bukid in Davao City. She prototyped a rope made from cleaned plastic packaging wastes. She used the roped plastic on the chairs seats and back rest.


She further developed her roped plastic process in an artist residency in Sefrou, Morocco in 2014, where she also found the initiative of working with a community to co-learn lessons in environmental care by upcycling locally-produced plastic wastes.

Coming back to the Philippines after her Moroccan stint, Willie knew she was ready to pilot her work in roped plastic with a Filipino community. She found her opportunity in a livelihood seminar commissioned by the Department of Natural Resources – Taal Volcano Protected Landscape (DENR-TVPL) for the community living on the foot of Taal Volcano. Since then, the Willie has been working with the Taal community in creating roped plastics, which are used in all of Junknot’s furniture, homeware, and fashion products, and commissioned works.

Willie’s work has been exhibited in the Philippines, Paris, Belgium, Germany, and Japan. She has been recognized and awarded by local and international organizations and government agencies. Amidst the accolades, her biggest joy remains in co-building with communities the reality of sustainable living and environment through Junknot’s eco-conscious and eco-conscientious practice and process.

At the heart of the Junknot design principle is the belief that we can work together with our clients and with communities in achieving common goals for environmental care and sustainable waste management.


We design so we can help make a good impact on society. Junknot envisions to help, in its small-scale way, solve two problems that our society is facing: (1) Waste Management and its Environmental Impact, and (2) Lack of Livelihood of the communities.


Through Junknot we find creative ways to transform regular plastic waste into functional furniture pieces, while providing livelihood to a community and protecting the environment.

Our Services

Upcycled Plastic Waste. Our main product lines are furniture made from roped plastics from upcycled plastic wastes. We encourage our clients to audit their wastes and use them for their custom-made furniture through our Trash Innovation and Exchange for UPcycling (TIE UP) Program. Through TIE UP, our clients receive a 15% discount on their custom-made furniture when they provide the plastic waste materials. 


Community Empowerment. All products are crafted by a Filipino community that is supported by the brand to give them livelihood opportunities and strengthen our working relationship with them as ground allies in the protection of the environment. Adopt a Filipino community with us and help further the impact of our programs.


Green Interior Services. Promote green living using the principle of innovative recycling and re-using of junk materials, as well as by using local, sustainably-sourced materials.

RECOGNITIONS & AWARDS

2021 PFPA Distinctive Private Practice Award
2019 ACES Metrobank Awardee
2018 Manila Fame Best Eco-Design Product Design Awardee
2018 BPI Sinag Awardee
2015 Laguna Green Award
2007 MADE Awardee - Grand Price in Interior Design Category
Share by: