Poblacion in Makati, with its gritty backstreets and flashy neon lights in the backdrop, has reemerged as one of the metro’s creative centrals.
With its streets spilling with high concept food and speakeasy bars, restaurants, and artist spaces, its city night lights are now complemented with the vibrance of artistry and creativity.
Design Week Philippines sees the old downtown area’s transformation a perfect fit to this edition’s theme of Design Kaleidoscope. Hence in its 11th edition, from Oct. 12 to 20, highlighted Poblacion as a Creative Environment.
“There is a different energy permeating in the backstreets and alleys of Poblacion that has really changed its urbanscape, and creativity is indeed a big part of it,” said Rhea Matute, executive director of Design Center of the Philippines.
She added, “The evolution of Poblacion can be seen as a celebration of individual talents and skills that complemented each other, thereby growing the community into a unique combination of cultural and business artistry.”
Design Center’s work in the recent years, according to Matute, focused on collaboration with numerous creative hubs as part of the agency’s advocacy to nurture a thriving creative economy in the Philippines.
Pineapple Lab, a gallery space in Poblacion, is one of the creative collaborators that Design Center is constantly working with in the recent years. In fact, Matute said, their Fringe MNL festival is part of the Design Week calendar in the past editions.
As a creative space and gallery made especially for newbies, Pineapple Lab prides itself as a safe space for artistic experimentation. In this DWP edition, Pineapple Lab joins the Design Hub Hoppin’, a curated itinerary of Poblacion’s creative hubs, and is set to feature “Shorts and Briefs Cinco: A Theater Festival” of concise plays, and “WTF PH!,” an exhibit of artists bannering today’s youth spirit, creative resistance, and cultural expression of identity.
Meanwhile, a boutique design and manufacturing studio on Alfonso St., The Workshop offers local, sustainable, and handcrafted products like tote bags, wallets, aprons, and jewelry. It also offers gin buko, a cocktail popular in the provinces, which is a mix of buko and the famous Ginebra San Miguel Kwatro Kantos.
Another thriving business in the area is the Pedro Tap House on Matilde St., run by husband-and-wife tandem Jaime and Nadine Fanlo, together with their friend Jill Borja. The establishment serves its freshly brewed crafted beers, the Pedro Brewcrafters.
In addition to the three aforementioned, more Poblacion-based creative hubs, and other creative entrepreneurs in the metro participated in Design Week Philippines, particularly during the one-day design fete on on Oct. 19.
