Vestalia is an ancient festival that honors Vesta, goddess of the hearth.
Also known as Hestia in the Greek Pantheon, Vesta was considered by the ancient Romans as the guardian and keeper of the home. That’s why Vestalia — an ancient, yearly, week-long celebration of Vesta — was chosen as the name of a residential development in the cool and airy province of Cavite.
Of course, there’s more to it than that. I kept several factors in mind for name ideation and research.
Harmony and Flow
Good feng shui is important. In my case, I don’t believe it out of superstition, but simply on the general principle that open energy and flow can and will translate from aesthetics to application. The “ah” sound has a fresh and clear feeling — in Tagalog, “maaliwalas,” the ideal mood for a place of residence. (Notice how many real estate developments use plenty of letter As — it simply sounds more open and auspicious.)
A Nod to the Founder
Vestalia is a development of Architect Kaydee Velasco of KMVAsia Development Corporation. A name starting with “V” was ideal, since it would align with the firm’s other projects.
The Feminine Principle
Finally, Vestalia is a name charged with feminine power, which is perfect for this woman-led development. It’s a celebration of how women keep the fire burning, not just at home, but in all industries.
Visual branding inspired by Spanish colonial architecture.
For fonts, we have Cantoria MT for titles and headers and Sweet Sans for all-caps subtitles and labels. Both are wide, strong, round, and a little quirky — they look both classically Latin and a little handmade. Sweet Sans felt a little too wide as a body font in this context, however. So for paragraphs, we swapped it out for the old standby Futura, a century-old geometric sans-serif.
Brand colors that blend in with classy — and classical — interiors and exteriors.
Like I mention in Oh, Holiday, it’s best to determine the highest and lowest values first for color palette creation. Vestalia comes quite close to true black and white with Carbón and Blanco. Océano makes one think of dark-tiled garden swimming pools, while Moreno is the color of sleek dark wood furnishings. Then we have Café, Oro, and Mantequilla, all different shades of gold.
Noveau No More
As a colonial country, we grew up watching Spanish telenovelas, where huge living rooms with golden accents only belonged to the evil Doña of the hacienda. Less than a hundred years ago, Spanish architecture meant true wealth, unattainable, and only a handful of years ago, it meant new wealth, gaudy.
But for this more globalized generation, we’re more able to see the true beauty of Latin-inspired homes — classical, not classist. Or even resort-inspired as opposed to old-fashioned. Gold is the new black, once again.
