“When I was diagnosed with this mental health condition, everybody would perceive it as a sumpa, a curse. And you know, initially I believed it,” owner and founder of the restaurant Van Gogh is Bipolar, Jetro Vin Rafael, tells Design Will Save the World, a YouTube Channel run by photographer/videographer Jar Concengco. Diagnosed with bipolar disorder, Jetro felt like he “was doomed to live a hellish life.”
But around that period in 2009, when the travel photographer was contemplating ending his life, Jetro stumbled upon a space in Teacher’s Village, in Maginhawa Street, that would become his sanctuary and healing space. “I remember I literally cocooned inside in this space for about a month,” he shares in the video. He recalled the experience as both “humbling” and “soul empowering.”
The 55-square-meter space, says Jetro, showed him nothing but unconditional love. “I can create the life that I want, or at least live my truth, without any shame, without any anger, without any fear.”
And he did, which resulted into the place’s “spontaneous design”—walls painted in bright, cheerful colors, punctuated with paintings and murals. There is plush furniture and soft lighting, providing a relaxing and calming atmosphere. It has a quiet room for meditation and a garden where one can enjoy the outdoors and connect with nature. “So whatever I feel like, then I just do it. I don't think of the logical or rationality behind it,” Jetro says.
His discovery of mood-healing nutrition thru natural homeopathy led to opening a café he called Van Gogh is Bipolar—inspired by Dutch post-Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh’s struggles with his own mental health condition.
The café was doing well for over 10 years and was a landmark spot in Maginhawa until Jetro decided to close it down in 2021 to concentrate on taking care of his partner, artist Robert Alejandro, who is living with colon cancer.
But in 2022, Jetro realized something: “Nourishing yourself is just as important as nourishing others,” he told Jar in this interview. He was being a great partner and caregiver, but “he couldn't lose himself in the process.”
So he decided to look for a commercial space and his feet led him once more to the old location of his Maginhawa sanctuary, which to his surprise was still unoccupied. So since last year, he’s been back at the “healing place” that taught him not only to cherish life but also to embrace the infinite creative possibilities it can offer.
Here’s a peek inside Van Gogh is Bipolar as featured on Design Will Save the World, a vlog that highlights the positive effects of design.