Arts and crafts along Alabama St.

Currently in Singapore now for work and last night my friends took me back to the Ann Siang Hill area for dinner and a few drinks. It’s a really lovely area with the rows of charming shophouses, many I was surprised to find out are actually bars and restaurants (at least along Club Street).  (The first time I went there was in the morning so I didn’t notice the closed bars.)

Anyway, in the spirit of lovely (and quirky) things, here’s a place in Manila that’s worth a visit if you find yourself looking for somewhere to go besides the mall.

In Alabama Street in New Manila, Quezon City there’s an old bungalow that’s now home to this wonderful furniture store and little gallery. Resurrection Furniture  & Found Objects Gallery takes old furniture and all sorts of  ‘junk with potential’ and makes them over to something better or (the term many shelter mags like to use now) upcycles them.

The store used to be located along Maginhawa Street in Quezon City (another must-see in Metro Manila for the many different restos and little hidden shops), but its new home seems to suit it better with the furniture arranged in the living room and spread out throughout the house. 10A Alabama Street also has the tiny RAW Art Gallery and a tea bar that looks like your school’s old science lab.

If that isn’t enough to make you schlep there, on the weekend of September 3 and 4, 10A Alabama will hold Handmade Art Fair featuring the works of designer Binggoy  De Ocampo, architect Leah Sanchez (the two people behind Resurrection), artists Robert Alejandro, Jazel Kristin, Sinag De Leon, Lizza Gutierrez, Arlene Florendo Barbaza, and Erika Bustamante Avancena.

Last month, they held 10A Alabama’s Arts and Crafts Fair, where different artists including Alejandro and Ginny Alcaide (love her use of thread for portraits) sold their works. There were also a lot of costume jewelry and other pretty accessories, notebooks, and organic soaps; and of course the cleverly refurbished furniture and home items from Resurrection. Here are a few photos of last month’s fair.

The white and blue gate along Alabama Street is hard to miss

Cute notebooks and clips

Pretty rings and necklaces

The ‘living room’ of Resurrection Furniture

The room where artist Robert Alejandro has some of his works

Journals by Robert Alejandro

Refurbished card catalog cabinet

The house’s ‘kitchen area’ or Hausbesetzer Laboratory of different sorts of tea

Where’s the wolf pack?

Artwork in the backyard

Let’s support local arts and crafts 🙂 See you in Handmade Art Fair!

Where: 10a Alabama Street, New Manila, Quezon City

Stops at Siam

With a few more travel notes to share on my trip to Bangkok with my sister, here’s another entry on what became our favorite stop of the BTS Skytrain: Siam.

View from Siam Paragon: The trains of Sukhumvit and Silom lines make a stop at Siam

Siam Station is where the two lines of BTS (Sukhumvit and Silom) intersect. One side is lined with some spanking malls, from shiny Siam Paragon to Siam Discovery, while the other is a maze of small boutiques, cafes, restaurants, multiplexes, tiny alleys of shops, and tinier galleries that is Siam Square. Throughout our vacation in the Thailand capital, my sister and I found ourselves returning to the station and to the square, where there were always shops, restaurants and corners to explore.

We were introduced to the place on our first night in Bangkok. Coming straight from the airport, we headed to Siam Square to meet two friends for dinner before their flight back to Manila. Over our first Thai meal of Pad Thai noodles, Tom Yam soup, and other local dishes, our friends who regularly go to Bangkok, shared their favorite places to wander around in the city and Siam Square was one of them.

Hunting for something pretty

Furniture store Space Encounters launched its latest line last night. It was something I was looking forward to all week as designer Wilmer Lopez creates the loveliest pieces with a playful style. It was also a chance to meet up with friends and have a few drinks (before the onslaught of deadlines and out-of-town shoots next week).

Dubbed, “Hunting Season,”  the latest collection is more Nordic-inspired (clean lines and soft colors) compared to the dark and dramatic Asian-pop inspiration of the “Indochine Remixes” collection.  With the new collection, Space Encounters looked like a completely different store. But just as pretty.

I love this corner, particularly the desk and the big mirror on the side

Interesting prints, framed quotes (that reveal one of the owners' love for Star Trek, among other things) and a lovely green couch

Looking for a different kind of chair? This sheep is surprisingly comfortable

Do not step into the bookstore

Have you ever walked into a bookstore, told yourself you’re just going to browse, and ended up being drawn to the cash register with a couple of books held close to your chest? I have. Too many times. I get this giddy, triumphant feeling, especially if I find the title I want under a heap of books on sale. (Particularly, because I’m not the most patient bargain hunter. In fact, I’m one of those people who’ll likely sit out one of those scavenger hunt games.)

And then I get home and look at my bookshelf, the bedside table, my desk, the boxes beside my desk, my work chair, and wonder if there’s still some space or surface besides the floor where I can put these new books. Where can they join the rest of the unread books scattered about or shoved in little corners? This is the time I tell myself I shouldn’t go inside bookstores every chance I get. Ignore the sale sign. Ignore the wonderful smell of books.

When we went up to Baguio, this note to self was completely set aside as one of the places on top of my must-see list in the city is the bookstore next to Casa Vallejo called, Mt Cloud Bookshop. A friend of mine told me about it, so after P and I put down our bags and got settled in the house, we headed to Casa Vallejo and the bookshop.

Beside Casa Vallejo

Another Manila entry: 3 places to check out in the city

For anyone visiting the Philippines for the first time: If ever you find yourself in Metro Manila, don’t dismiss the Philippine capital as simply a take-off point to the country’s amazing beaches and mountain escapes. Last week amidst all the deadlines and the running, I got to squeeze in some time to get out of the house for a walking tour in historic Intramuros, Manila, a little shopping in the bohemian enclave of Cubao X in Quezon City, and a serving of art and Eggs Benedict in a park in Makati City.

In one afternoon…
“If These Walls Could Talk” Intramuros tour by Carlos Celdran: A quick history lesson of Manila can be had in this popular walking tour around the oldest district of Manila in Intramuros by Carlos, dubbed ‘the Pied Piper of Manila.’ Covering Fort Santiago, Father Blanco’s Garden, San Agustin Church, and Casa Manila, the tour offers a funny and educational history of Manila from pre-Hispanic times to 300 years of Spanish rule, to the American colonization, World War II, and until the present time with Carlos’s brand of irreverent humor and engaging spiel. (I just think it would be great if Carlos lets the group go around Fort Santiago for a bit on their own–like he does with the next stop–since it’s a pretty small area anyway.) I love this quote of his on the city: “I believe that Manila can be a reflection of your state of mind. Being a city of extreme contrasts it can easily become an intense personal experience. Manila can be chaotic and spiritual, dirty and divine, gritty and gorgeous all at once. If you don’t find beauty and poetry here, you will never find it anywhere.”

Manila’s unofficial ambassador Carlos Celdran

The tour includes a ride in a calesa from Fort Santiago to Father Blanco’s Garden

Wear comfortable shoes for the walk

Carlos Celdran’s Walk This Way Tour, celdrantours.blogspot.com

In the evening…