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Cyndi Fernandez-Beltran of Moss Design House Has Mastered the Art of Storytelling Through Spaces
The co-founder and principal designer of Moss Design House looks back at her 15 years in the industry and her continuing success.
Published Apr 12, 2024
For Moss Design House’s Cyndi Fernandez-Beltran, each space has a story to tell.
Cyndi Fernandez-Beltran is a busy woman. With her makeup from the shoot still intact, the interior designer and co-founder of Moss Design House sends a swift voice message to her team. She would have to move her next meeting, she cautions, as we were still about to begin her interview, just minutes after the tail end of the last layout.
Nothing’s amiss, however. Cyndi walks me through her typical day, which is a concept that is still up for debate. “It’s weird because when you ask me for a typical day, there’s no typical day,” she muses.
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At least on average, Cyndi’s day starts at six o’clock in the morning, given her other full-time role as a mother to three young daughters. Her phone is filled with what she calls “10 million chat groups” waiting for pending replies, while, on her other hand, her breakfast consists of a glass of water submerged with a slice of lemon. The work day begins, leading her to the usual locations: office, ocular, or a meeting. In no particular order, and sometimes, all in one day, which can run up to 18 hours. It’s the adage for most entrepreneurs: When running a business, there’s always a “fire to put out.”
A packed schedule seems to be a common aspect in the decade and more that she’s been in the design business. In the 15th year of Moss Design House, the work continues. But like the industry itself, change is inevitable and players evolve, yet Moss’ longstanding stature is proof of an enduring name.
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A Budding Story
The Moss name, however, wouldn’t have grown in exponential ways without the couple at its helm. Co-founded by Cyndi with her now-husband Mado Beltran, the design house’s story took root in her foundations as an interior designer. Fresh off receiving a degree in interior design at the University of Santo Tomas and after passing the licensure examination, Cyndi had her run in architectural firms, where she would work on event design jobs on the side. At that time, such a role was unheard of. “No one knew what event design was,” she recalls. “It would be taken by production people, the people who do staging. There was really no lifestyle treatment to any of the events.”
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After a long stint in the architecture firm, Cyndi pursued further studies at the Parsons School of Design in New York City, where, across from her apartment, was a spot in Soho called “Moss New York.” Cyndi describes the showroom as a “museum-esque” place that housed new designers. It was a haven for creativity that ultimately closed down due to the economic crisis, which offered its last ounces of inspiration to her. “When I got home, I just said, you know, I’m putting up my own.”
Previously dubbed Moss Manila before its renaming during the pandemic, the design house began as a humble 15-square-meter home office with the couple in 2008, where they would venture into interior and event design. Malls and pop-up installations for holidays and events would be garbed in the growing signature of the then-new design house, which would later become a success story as a multi-disciplinary design firm that catered from interior design to furniture rentals. Their clientele began to boast formidable names across industries, including cornerstones in the Philippines’ hospitality scene and luxury staples.
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Cyndi considers 2014 the breakthrough year, as they launched the boutique modern art-deco home store, Manila Moss Home. “I felt like that was kind of where it really hit off. So, there, it grew.”
With back-to-back brands in their growing portfolio and 15 years of experience, Cyndi’s creative process remains staunch. The first was to ask the “right questions,” with storytelling as a vital part of the Moss brand. As a team, they look at what came before them, setting benchmarks and seeing what they can do better. As part of her hands-on approach, she strives to be present in the room during the pitch. The rigorous practical process begins after it’s all settled, which is one part of what drew Cyndi to the craft.
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“As an interior designer, you have to think that all these things you do lead to a bigger room and a bigger purpose.”
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“It’s a very stressful job. It’s very demanding because it’s always time-constrained,” she reflects. “But when I think about it, why do I really want to put myself under a lot of stress when I do event design? Because it helps build brands. I like the challenge that it gives each time.”
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For the design aspect, the challenge is much more than choosing what looks good, especially in a period of information and inspiration overload. “We fight for research-based design,” Cyndi says. “On the creative side, the overflow of content and inspiration, they have very much diluted creative critical thinking processes of designers.”
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A “copy-paste” and “click-to-share” culture has become prevalent in the commercial design industry, where spaces lack the needed story. In Cyndi’s ethos, personality maintains to be the hero of a space, with narratives that speak about its owner. “Since we’re multidisciplinary, we make sure that each designer tells a story. Now, everything should be about visual storytelling,” she says. “It should all be conveyed through different types of senses. It needs to look good, it needs to be tactile, and it needs to be something that conveys what a brand is or what a person's personality is.”
Keeping With the Times
The desire to educate about research-based design and a need to adapt was what brought about her YouTube channel with her husband, Mr. and Mrs. B of Moss Design House. With events at a pause, the company had to pivot during the pandemic, when most were cooped up in their homes and personal spaces reigned. While their business was best known for commercial projects then, the couple had leveraged residential design. The result was a YouTube page that gave the essentials about building a home, which featured celebrities including Bela Padilla, Solenn Heussaff, Sofia Andres, and Ivana Alawi.
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“It helps people to know the genesis, reasons, and logic behind designs,” Cyndi explains. “As an interior designer, I wanted people to know that our job isn’t a shallow superfluous job. It’s science. There’s technical knowledge merged with aesthetics to improve the way of living of the dwellers. While others gate-keep their trade secrets, I always believe in mentorship and in sharing for others to excel and learn.”
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Outside of the technicalities, their adaptability proved to be a lesson of its own in making a business survive and thrive through tumultuous times. To Cyndi, building something robust was integral–not only in the context of a pandemic, but in an industry that seemed to evolve at a constant pace.
“How do you stay relevant? Finding ways to not get too comfortable with where you are is important. You have to constantly evolve because the design world is changing by the minute as we speak,” she says. “There are new materials and new designs that are coming in, a new form, a new trend, new technology. Constantly just being hungry to know what’s out there is so important.”
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With her accumulated learnings, the interior designer has a mental playbook for success. First is a need to establish identity, along with the much-needed eye for good design and their own brand of ingenuity. Designers are tasked to “unleash the potential in spaces and find what's good in a space,” she says.
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“Finding ways to not get too comfortable with where you are is important. You have to constantly evolve because the design world is changing by the minute as we speak.”
But beyond skills are the needed attitudes that often have to be honed over time. Cyndi reflects that the job entails a need to connect with people, because, at the end of the day, design is a service requiring grit. “You have to think that all these things lead to a bigger room and a bigger purpose. Just have the resilience and the rigor to fight all the obstacles.”
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Much like the industry, the way that she views design has evolved, too, compared to when she first saw inspiration on a street in Soho. Ultimately, Moss Design has grown alongside her. “It’s no longer just about me. It’s no longer just about growing the company. It's also about having people succeed on their own. That when they come on board with me, they learn so much,” she says. “Now you realize, hey, I’m already at this legacy building. I’m already at the point where I want to build new leaders.”
Outside of Moss Design House, Cyndi has recently taken a new role as the National Vice President of the Philippine Institute of Interior Designers, which now has the youngest board in the past 60 years. Part of accepting the role was because she felt like she was at an age where she “needed to give back.” “I think I owe it to my profession and to aspiring designers and firm owners to help guide others and create that awareness,” she says.
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“The most rewarding [aspect about interior design] is really making lasting impressions. The reward is that you change the way people live.”
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After the interview, Cyndi’s packed schedule resumes its usual run. But, in between it, the retrospective of the past 15 years felt like a poignant pause. I ask her what the most rewarding aspect of her job is, and the answer is already there, manifested in the stories behind any space.
“The most rewarding is really making lasting impressions. It’s really helping them,” she responds. “In interior design, the reward is that you change the way people live. You have to have genuine desire. It’s not just business. It’s that desire that comes from really helping others grow.”
Produced and Styled by The Preview Team
Photographer: JL Javier, assisted by Charissa Soriano
Creative Director: Bacs Arcebal
Editor-in-Chief: Marj Ramos-Clemente
Production and Fashion: Reg Rodriguez and Isha Fojas
Makeup: Johnson Estrella
Hairstyling: Lourd Ramos, assisted by Sam Pantorilla
Story: Katrina Maisie Cabral
Videos: Jana Jodloman
Social Media: Jamie Lou Briones
Shoot Location: Sine Pop, Quezon City
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