Earrings on Display.

Keeping shop does mean some work. Last weekend, I spent an afternoon cutting out stock paper, stamping them with the Sala logo, and then piercing them with holes using a safety pin. These were going to be the display holder for our earrings at the store. It was a small labor of love.

These are my favorite pair of earrings above. They are made of lightweight natural wood, polished and stained black. Along with a few assortment of acrylic and wood beads, these earrings are strung along a nickel-free blackened chain that dangle way down your neck - tres elegant!

I like these brown ones too - simple but different. The ones in the background actually has chunks of turquoise added to them - quite precious. The most amazing thing about these earrings is how lightweight they are! You can literally shake your head and flip your hair with nary an effort! Check them out at the store next time you visit.

If Only These Jars Could Talk...

Yesterday, my mom - who is watching our store these days - was stoked to let me know that she managed to sell one of our prized finds at Sala - a pair of antique banga or earthen jars. Mel found them in Batangas - where a lot of these antiquated jars reside - previously owned by an old and established family who proudly claimed that the said jars were with their family forever. The lola of the family said that they had the jars since she was a little girl and she is now fast approaching 80, so these things are truly aged.
The new lucky owners of these venerable bangas probably know that these jars could have stored drinking water for the family for years or aged fish sauce or vinegar. Whatever their uses were, these jars surely have stories to tell.

From Malong to Nursing Scrubs

Mention the word "batik" and immediately, I think of gaggle of girls doing their laundry at the river wearing nothing but tapis. The said tapis or sarong, or malong, inevitably designed with "batik" prints. Batik is in fact the term used to describe the malong or tube skirts made in Indonesia that are almost exclusively imported by the vendors in Southern Philippines. The malong or tube skirt, on the other hand, is a traditional piece of garment used by various tribes in the said part of the Philippines. Each tribe has its own unique way of weaving, decorating, and using the malong. Beyond its common use as a piece of clothing, malong is also used as blanket, baby crib, wardrobe, decoration, poncho, scarf, and head gear among others.

We have been carrying different styles of malongs at the store. To get the most authentic tribal kinds, we have travelled as far as Davao and Zamboanga. At one time or another, our store carried the traditional black and white T-boli Malong and the more colorful Maguindanao ones. But our most common Malongs are the mass-produced ones made of Batik fabric from Indonesia. These are the malongs usually worn by denizens of the Southern Philippines and elsewhere - whether for lounging, certain ceremonies, and dance.

Testing the batik's versality futher, we thought of having them made into nursing scrubs. The fabric is lightweight, cool, and colorful. What a way to wear your "colors", we thought. So there you have it, batik nursing scrub! The scrubs look every inch the traditional scrubs with V-necks, front pockets and side-slits. They are unisex and they come in all 3 sizes: small, medium and large. They come slightly large - perfect for everyone!

We Know We Could, We Know We Could

I started this blog with an ambition, or hope, that I would be blowing you all away with my dedication and prolificacy. Well, as it was, my blogging inclination turned out to be rarer than a lunar eclipse which incidentally took place last night. My dream was to regale you with whimsical details on every single product we get, art we discover, trip we take, person we meet, on anything, anything at all. But sadly, I wrote almost close to nothing on nothing. But, BUT, it is never too late, right? This year, although we are almost three months into it, I can still make good with my promise. IN fact, the FACT, that I am writing this blog entry is very encouraging, a step into a direction that I have been eyeing to take for three years now. So this year is the year. Hopefully.

Here Comes A New Year

Well, it is finally here - another new year! At Sala, we are looking at our 4th year. Cannot believe it has been that long because in most ways we still feel like a baby store. Below is how our store looked like when we first opened in February 2005. We were only sharing a space with another storefront. We did not have that much stuff yet.

Above is a most recent photo of our store. We moved 2 doors down from our very first spot after a month in 2005. The moving did not stop there however. We continue to move things around in the store every few months just to keep things looking new and exciting. We have since re-arranged the look of our store since this photo was taken.

In 2008, we are looking forward to more unique and lovely stuff to offer in our store. More books, more music cds and perhaps more fashionable things to wear. We are also hoping to finish building our website so we can expand that way. We will be getting new jewelry by February and nursing scrubs made out of Batik fabric from Zamboanga. To prepare for the arrival of the new jewelry, we will be putting our old inventory on tremendous sale. We will keep you updated as we go along with our new year. We hope that yours is looking up great as well - even after just a day.

Book Reading Happened at Sala

We had our first official book reading at Sala today. Local author Ed Mercado came to read passages from his book titled : Balikbayan Boxes for Better or for Worse. Friends of Sala came to listen and took part in a little Q & A. Later, the reading gang mingled over skewered spam, cheeze its, cookies, pineapple juice and sips of red wine. Thanks to the red wine, everyone was warm and aglow at the end of the event. We sold a few books that the author happily signed for the customers. Everyone enjoyed the event and cannot wait for the next one.

grunt work

It has been back-breaking work - updating the store's website that is. No wonder, people who actually get paid for this kind of work charge a lot of money - it is tedious. But, slowly but surely (or sorely), progress is being made. If I didn't know html codes before - well, I do know. I officially spent the entire day working on the site and still, much work is left to be done. And worse, I keep discovering kinks that completely stump me! Nonetheless, I think that the website is slowly coming along and who knows, before long, I might actually finish it. Meanwhile, do check it out and see for yourself.

Tado T-shirts Now in Sala

I just came back from the Philippines and brought some new stuff with me. I could only bring one big luggage of things for the store because I was flying solo. Nonetheless, I found some stuff so noteworthy and shall I say, funny and green? I will try very hard to blog about the new things in the store.

One of my coolest discovery were these t-shirts made by an "act" that goes by the name of "TADO" in the Philippine television. His shirts were featured in a local newspaper and my friend clipped it for me to "discover."
Hours before my flight home, my friends and I trooped down to Marikina to check these shirts out. Luckily for us, Tado (his real name is Arvin) and his wife (who turned out to be a Bikolana also) were minding the store.

I was really attracted by the practical but kind of romantic messages on Tado's shirts. Sayings such as "mabuti pa ang tamad hindi pagod" charmed me immensely. Head-scratching are the messages mostly - so caustic, wry, dry and hard to resist.

Tado calls his business "limitado" as in he only makes the shirts in limited quantities - making them instant vintage once the supply runs out . I got a few shirts in mostly medium and large sizes. The fabric is really good and I like his unique identifying graphic on the back. The shirts come in various colors - including pink, green and blue - fearless.

Of course, mildly star-struck, we had our pictures taken with the artist himself. He was really laid-back and quite funny. We love his signature lime green VW pagong.

Where Our Name Came From

Two questions usually come up when we tell people about our store: namely, what is Sala? (this from the non-tagalog speakers or black and white thinkers) and, why Sala? (this from the more inquisitive and maybe romantic ones?). Sometimes, I wished that I have some fabulous story to tell about our naming process, or at least, something that shows how wit just comes second nature to us. But alas, no, the name came to us from the side of a truck. We have been brainstorming about a name for weeks, turning words over our heads - desperately searching for anything catchy, unique and very witty - when one day, stopped at a traffic light, a truck bearing this name crossed the intersection:

My Filipino-brain immediately read: Sala. And yes, I thought, that's it - SALA - living room - the place where we put our best and most prized stuff in the house, the cleaniest, prettiest, and most displayed spot in a Filipino house. Exactly the concept we were gunning for. Of course, the above logo actually says SAIA - but never mind, it made me think of SALA, and the rest, they say, is our short history.

Nowadays, people tease me about the ubiquitous trucks bearing our so-called name all over the place (SAIA is a trucking company) - are those yours, they sheepishly ask. Of course not, we barely own a jeep to put all our stuff in, we answer. But if they make you think of us, then I was not alone in my dyslexia.

Above are the pictures of the actual Bulol necklaces we have at Sala. These bulol necklaces are from Banaue, Philippines and carved from Ipil wood. The tie is made of nylon string and adjustable between 16 to 18 inches in length.

Bulol is the image of the Cordilleran rice god. Cordillera is a mountain range in the Philippines' Norther Luzon region. These mountains are home to six indigenous Filipino tribes namely theIbaloy, Kankanay, Kalinga, Apayao, Bontoc and Ifugao. Having created the breathtaking Rice Terraces - a UNESCO World Heritage Site - these highlanders' culture, traditions and everyday lives are very much linked with rice. The bulols usually stand guard at Cordilleran rice granaries to scare away rice thiefs and pestilence.

The Cordillerans of old probably never imagined that the bulols they painstakingly carved out of native wood such as narra and ipil would one day adorn the necks of lowlanders and highlanders alike. When you happen to wear one around your neck, please pay homage to the culture, tradition and peoples that inform the making of these bulol necklaces.

Here is a video of the actual rice terraces taken during Mel's trip to Banaue in April this year (2007). The ladies in the traditional clothing are in fact locals of Banaue who proudly share their culture with visitors. Shown in the video are Mel's brother Kuya Lito, his wife Ate Baby, and their daughter Joy. The boy is Carl, Kathy's (not in the video) nephew.

S A L A is taking its stuff to the road. Check us out at the 2007 Pistahan at Yerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco across from the Sony Metreon. We will be at B9. We are taking fashion accessories, basketware, wood carvings, children's books, textiles and many more. See you there.

RAPU-RAPU CHRONICLES #1
Chances are, you have not heard of Rapu-rapu. Had it not been for a friend of mine who actually grew up in Rapu-Rapu, I did not know what it was either. A species of a fish and a mispronounciation of Lapu-Lapu flashed in my mind when it was first mentioned to me.
Rapu-Rapu is in fact a place - an island municipality in the province of Albay in the Bicol Region. Hardly a speck on the map, it is easy to go through life knowing squat about Rapu-rapu. But those in the know speak of it dreamily as my native friend does when he rhapsodizes about the island's remoteness, its virtually untouched beaches, hidden waterfalls and bat caves, and the frolicking Blue Marlins and swordfish in its clear waters. But when he said that motorized vehicles had not even made it to the island yet, I was floored. A place in the Philippines without so much a tricycle? I had to go.

Cappucino with pili nut shavings enjoyed in a cozy cafe in Legaspi, Albay.