Melissa has been practicing architecture in the Philippines for the past 10 years. Her practice mainly focused on retail and residential projects, which exposed her to the scarcity of well designed and affordable local furniture pieces. With the help of her father's furniture manufacturing company, she decided to delve into furniture design in order to address the need and to explore a design language different from what she has grown used to. She aims to create affordable and stylish pieces relevant to the region because she believes that good design should be accessible to everyone.