We were having lunch at Brothers Burger along Diosdado Macapagal Avenue in Pasay City yesterday and wondering how we’d spend the afternoon until it was time to bring Sam back to the dorm. Sam wanted to go to the World Bazaar at the World Trade Center and we tried to after lunch except that parking was bad and the huge crowd made me dizzy. We drove around and I suggested the Balikbayan Handicrafts Center right across Brothers Burger that I spotted while having lunch.
And that was where we went. And, my, we were impressed. And shocked. Let me explain.
In a previous entry, the one about the marble eggs, I mentioned that I placed the eggs in a wooden salad bowl that cost P50 from the Dapitan Market. A similarly sized salad bowl at the Balikbayan Handicrafts Center cost P500. There was a 50% discount but that would still be too expensive. Of course, if I weren’t familiar with Dapitan prices, I might have found the P500 less 50% price tag reasonable. Solid wood products rarely come cheap. But then I have the advantage of being able to compare so I left the salad bowl section.
There were items that you wouldn’t find in a flea market though.
Like this beautiful Nativity set. The heads and hands of the figures are made of wood and the bodies are made from twigs. Well, tingting (dried spine of the coconut leaf), from the feel of it. The price? P4000 less 50%. I almost bought a set.
For those who prefer the feel of solid wood, there’s this more complete Nativity set that includes animal figures. I liked the first set better. More unique.
Sam and Alex went crazy with the stuff they found there. Sam wanted a huge wooden seat made from the entire width of a huge tree trunk. Something like five feet wide. She sat on the thing and declared she could sleep in it. But the thing cost P60,000.
Alex saw ship models — galleons — the larger one cost P15,000 and the smaller one, P5,000.
Then, there were the angels. The girls first saw the one with the “wand.” The sales lady showed them how to turn the base so that music played while the angel went ’round and ’round.
It turned out it wasn’t a wand the angel was holding but a baton (at the center of the photo). The angel could be bought solo or as part of a set — an orchestra of angels, each holding a different musical instrument.
The “Madonna and child” owl figure which I really loved cost P15,000. So never mind.
There was this frog too. Not my type but Sam and Speedy liked it.
Aside from the ornamental pieces, there were furniture. Beautiful furniture.
Like this table, a 12-seater, glass-topped and the base made of the roots of an entire tree. Price: P900,000. No, that’s not a typo. That’s nine hundred thousand pesos. Less 50%.
The root design is echoed in this bed. I didn’t bother checking the price anymore.
There were 12-foot long tables with tabletops made from thick solid wood — apparently the trunks of entire trees.
In short, there were very few items in the store that I didn’t like. The designs were marvelous, I love wood products… Heck, the self-control I mustered not to whip out my credit card yesterday was nothing short of amazing. We walked out of the store with nothing. The prices were just too much.
We were already in the pickup when Speedy articulated the question that we didn’t talk about while inside the store — the environmental impact of all those solid wood products. For years, we’ve been hearing about the problems caused by the denudation of forests, particularly, floods and landslides. Logging continues though as many powerful politicians are also owners of logging companies.
This question about logging and the environment led me to search to find out just what the position of Balikbayan Handicrafts is. I found its website where it says the company is an exporter and wholesaler. Sadly, the About Us page says nothing about the source of the wood used in making the handicrafts and furniture.
Perhaps one of the reasons the prices were so high is because of the wood source. It could be illegal or not, but one thing is certain, the eco-movement has jacked prices of wood products.
Though there’s no reason why companies should not disclose where they source their wood for their products.
Anyways, there’s a store in Intramuros called Silahis (and no, it’s not for the queer) where they sell beautiful wood crafts and furniture. One item that would be forever in my wishlist is a exquisitely carved chess set made of kamagong wood. The price? Php90,000.00! T.T
Right, no reason why the source should not be disclosed. And that’s all I ask, really. For instance, when we had the douglas fir Christmas tree last year, it came with a notice that the tree was not harvested from a natural forest.
a lot of the furniture that’s been coming out lately are from the tree roots or what some locals call Tuod. these are actually the roots of hardwood trees that have been previously logged. locals who make a living from this reason out that they’ve only been digging out the roots and are not cutting down trees so there’s little environmental impact. but the roots we’re talking about here are not small plant roots but huge ones that are usually as large as the trunk that’s been cut off. even after logging, the roots still do a good job of holding together the soil to prevent landslide/erosion. but once it’s dug out the soil’s left loose and that’s what causes landslide. this is what happened in northern quezon back in 2004.
A Tuod is still a live tree and it can regrow. Bad reason for digging them out. But then you know how business people are — they never run out of justifications.
I hit Dapitan hard last weekend hahahaha. “Ayoko ng kano price – wag kang madaya ha” was my battlecry hahahaha.
From your tone, it looks like you bought the entire market hahahahaha
I tried, but they always had more hahahaha. Thanks again for a great recommendation.
My sister in law gave me the whole angel orchestra 10 years ago and the kids enjoyed winding the maestro angel to hear the music. Sadly, it quit working after all these years and i can’t find anybody who can repair it so we just use the set as a mantlepiece during the holidays. Another piece of Filipino ingenuity . Didnt realize they are so expensive. HAPPY HOLIDAYS errr SHOPPING.
Nice pero ang mahaaaaal! Definitely hindi ako yung target market nila. Although I can imagine those wooden crafts ending up with old rich families who own mansions and rest houses.
Chances are, the prices also cover the amount of tongs to gov’t officials and/or communist rebels who made a wood’s trip from the forest to the center possible. It kind of reminds me of exotic animals ending up as food delicacies elsewhere.
I thought the question would be: how much of the amount actually goes back to the carver/artist. Handicrafts often get marketed as unique, hand-made artworks and consumers buy them out of admiration. But at the end of the day they’re the product of
cheapcompetitive pricing labor and the middlemen/women get to rake in most of the profits.Or maybe, that’s just the real cost of selling and getting their products to the market.
Ruth, actually, I didn’t bother asking how much the set costs. But then, there were no cheap items in the store. No ugly items either.
Unsentpostcards, if one has a pickup or a small truck, it’s much cheaper to buy from those roadside stalls on the way to Baguio and all the way to Benguet.