Benilde’s Industrial Design (BS-ID) program unveiled Ten/Fold, a thesis exhibit that dared designers and visitors to push boundaries. Featuring 10 capstone projects, the exhibit was held from Dec. 6 to 10 at the Magdamag Market Cafe in Quezon City.
Ten/Fold dared the 10 exhibitors to go beyond what is possible and stretch design beyond its familiar edges, like folding a sheet of paper beyond seven creases. Grouped into assistive health, industrial systems, and user experience clusters, the exhibit buzzed with possibility and revealed how design can ingeniously address real-world challenges when designers transcends limits.
In an exclusive interview with The Benildean, ID122 Best Thesis awardee Eryn Amante, reimagined assistive health with her product Aidflo, a hygiene-assisted medical device that allows bedridden patients to receive comfortable head-and-neck showers right in bed while making the task easier for caregivers.
Amante’s journey with Aidflo was raw and personal. “Coming into this thesis journey, I knew my project had to be deeply personal—something I could always look back on with pride.” Drawing inspiration from her accident, she shared, “[I] felt compelled to address the challenges that came with it. Amid that difficult experience, one of the happiest moments was regaining a sense of normalcy through something as simple as having my hair washed in the hospital.”
Upon reflecting on her experience, Amante realized that there was a market gap in bedside shower systems. Looking back on the tedious product development process, she revealed that the roadblocks she encountered along the way were a blessing in disguise that allowed her to develop her prototype into a complete mobile shower system built with “intention, care, and 100% heart.”
Aidflo tackles urgent needs in the Philippines’ postpartum care and growing elderly population, proving that hygiene is a path to both physical and emotional recovery. For Amante, her project changed her perspective on industrial design. “[It showed] me that there is hope in the products we create. It demonstrated how painful and difficult experiences can be transformed into something tangible, purposeful, and meaningful.”
Amante hoped visitors left Ten/Fold inspired by the exhibitors’ stories from bedridden struggles and farmer roots to fur-parent life. “I hope that those who visited took this to heart: that designers like us create with empathy, intention, and the courage to go beyond what is possible—to transform lives.”
As time evolves, the Industrial Design program continues to empower the next generation of designers to embrace the extraordinary and break barriers through advocacy-driven innovations.
Ten/Fold proves design’s power to transform lives, one crease at a time.
