As Remembered By Inok - CMI Head Sculptor

The following is an excerpt from the interview given by Inok, CMI's Head Carver, who had been with the company since its garage-operation beginnings. The actual interview was given in local language and the writer put all effort necessary to be faithful to the original in the process of translation.

Q. How did you come to work with CMI?
A. I was just 17 years old then, working in one of the shops that create wood carved items in the town of Paete, Laguna and Ms. Rubby was an occasional customer in our shop. I used to do some carving work for her and there was one project that I did that she didn't totally liked and she requested me to go to her house to do the rework instead of doing it in the shop. Later on, she offered to hire me on a salary basis and I accepted.

Q. How was it during those times? Did you have some artists to do the drawings before you were asked to carve?
A. No, there was no artist at all. Ms. Rubby is an artist herself but she liked things done quickly and she devised a method to do that. She would serve as the model and she would sit on the floor of the garage where I worked and tell me, "Alright, Inok. This is how I want the Jester or the Tooth Fairy to look." And she will just do the posture and I would start carving away, unless the posture was complicated and I would make a rough sketch first.

Q. Did you have suncontractors to do the mass production of the items for you?
A. None. Everything was done right there on the garage by the few people employed by Ms. Rubby. Since the market at that time was just the local department stores, we were hardly pressed for volume requirements.

Q. How did CMI start getting into the foreign market?
A. I remember CMI's first attempt to join an exhibit abroad was in 1995 when Ms. Rubby bravely went to Germany. She was with two persons at that time and when she came back she did not bring any single order.

Q. What happened after that?
A. This is one of the things I like about Ms. Rubby. She's a person that you cannot easily ask to surrender. After that German fiasco, she simply plunged right back into the local operation and not long after that, joined another international exhibit, although this time held here in Manila, and there the customers, local and foreign, just flocked on our booth. We became international then.

Q. What else do you admire about Ms. Rubby that you think is responsible for the steady growth of the company?
A. She is always dynamic and quick to react with solutions to whatever problems that the company faces.

Q. How far has the company moved since those garage days?
A. After the orders started coming in large numbers, we moved to a bigger place near Cogeo. It is there that we also started sub-contracting the mass production of items. Later on, we moved to Pasig City and in 2001, here in Antipolo City.

Q. You have stayed quite a long time with CMI already. What made you stay that long?
A. I liked the way Ms. Rubby recognizes the effort her people give to their service to the company. She would really take care of her people and she doesn't hesitate to extend extra help when needed and deserved. I also got to see other countries I never dreamed of seeing.

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