tara na!

After indulging ourselves in comfort food, TK headed to The Collective as suggested by Robbie. Located in Malugay Street, Makati City near Cash and Carry, The Collective is a warehouse turned haven for budding niche businesses in the creative scene. Recently opened last May 2010, The Collective is a fairly new place for hang outs esp. for artsy people. We were lucky enough that day to come just in time for a graffiti exhibit in Vinyl on Vinyl.

Vinyl on Vinyl is a gallery, an art store and a designer toy store all-in-one that caters especially to Vinyl Art. The way I understand it, Vinyl Art is modern art inspired by the things we (or the artist) grew up with, expressed in unconventional ways. Like for example, budding and well known artists and designers alike express themselves by (but not limited to) designing toys that are produced in limited quantities. Most designer toys are numbered, so you would actually know how many of each kind there is in the entire world.

Of course comes with the rarity of these collector toys is a price you would have to pay. A tiny zipper pull would already cost you more than 200 pesos. There are times that not only you would have to pay a great sum of money but you would also have to work hard for it. We were told that one of the partners of Vinyl on Vinyl, Gabby dela Merced, even had to write an essay explaining why she deserved the toy, aside from spending 50,000 pesos for it. But if you are lucky and you happen meet an artist, they might just give you one for free. In fact, Vinyl on Vinyl hosts doodle nights where you can just simply bring a sketchpad or the like and ask an artist to doodle on it, and the best part of it is that it’s free!

Or if you are patient enough, you can go ukay-ukay hopping wherein most owners are not really aware of the value of these designer toys. You might be lucky and might just come across a rare item that would only cost you about 10% of it’s value or even less.

I seriously want to start collecting Buff Monsters, such cute ice cream monsters!!

Some of these designer toys are packaged in such a way that you will not find out what particular design it is until you open it. Yes, you would have a idea what the package contains more or less as some boxes or the holder of boxes indicate the line of the toy’s design. But still, you’ll never know what’s exactly inside. These toys are called “chase”, you get the thrill of chasing rare ones or simply the particular design you want to get. One of them is Buff Monsters, ice cream monsters that are so cute I want to start collecting them now.

One of the most valued artworks by Audrey Kawasaki in Vinyl on Vinyl

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Vinyl on Vinyl, The Collective

7274 Malugay Street, Makati City