Jefrë

Jefre Figueras Manuel, commonly known by the mononym Jefrë, is a Filipino-American visual artist based in Orlando, Florida.

Early life and education Jefre Figueras Manuel was born and raised in Chicago to Filipino parents who settled in the United States in the 1970s. His mother is a nurse from Santo Domingo, Ilocos Sur while his father is an accountant from San Pedro, Laguna. Jefrë's parents also had part-time jobs in design; his father did landscape contracting and design and his mother created wedding flower arrangements.

He initially pursued a degree in medicine for his collegiate studies. He later took courses at the Art Institute of Chicago and attended Ohio State University to study urban design and planning.

Career He first worked for Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in the 1990s. The artwork received mixed local reception. It has been a subject of a petition to stop its conception.

He also did works that are publicly displayed in the Philippines. This includes Time in SM Megamall along EDSA, a mirror stainless steel sculpture of a human figure with a box head to convey the idea to value time in the context of the being stuck in traffic and portray people as "building blocks" of a city. Other works include the Talking Heads at the Five Ecom Center Building at the SM Mall of Asia complex In 2018 he did the Tree of Life fiberglass sculpture installed at Robinsons Place Naga in Naga, Camarines Sur.

In 2024, Jefrë designed the MMFF trophy featuring a silver figurine with an upper torso of film reel and filmstrip.