On the shelves are blank notebooks and journals, faceless wooden birds and cloth dolls, silver coin cans, colorful paper strips for twisting and shaping, smooth stones for painting, and more. On another side are tubs and tubs of different art materials – scissors, glue, paint, brushes, and more.
At cafes people usually hang out to have coffee and talk; here, people come to make art. A spin-off of the well-loved Papemelroti brand of gift stores (where I happily bought notebooks and crafts for myself and as gifts back in high school), Papemelroti Artisan’s Workshop at Don Roces Avenue, Quezon City is for those who would like to explore their creative side while having fun.
Papemelroti Artisan’s Workshop is a place to make art by your lonesome or with friends, and possibly meet new people, too!
Making art and having fun!
You can pick an arts and crafts project you want to work on (cost starts at P10 for key chains for decoration, and many below P100 like making paper dolls). Then, rent art materials – scissors, glue, a little acrylic paint, etc. – for P50 (if you’re using A LOT of paint, cost will be P100).
Pick your art materials here.
Some of the art materials
There are many arts and crafts projects to choose from that can easily take up your entire afternoon, or even a whole day:
There are shelves of different projects to choose from, like notebooks with plain covers to decorate, among others.
Coin cans you can “dress” and liven up
Stones for painting!
Wooden figures for painting, too!
Paper dolls!
And puppets!
Paper art for hanging! Bring it home to decorate your room.
Sample finished art from paper twill
Art notebooks!
Above are just some of the art projects you can choose from.
This art space holds workshops, too.
I attended Papemelroti’s co-founder and Papemelroti resident artist Robert Alejandro’s workshop on making your art journal, which he also emphasized can be a travel journal. He personally sketches his travels or notes them on his journal.
Papemelroti co-founder and resident artist Robert Alejandro talks about creativity in his art journal workshop.
Art journals for use by participants
Art journal materials
He encouraged us to play and have fun, artist or not. No rules or judgment.
Workshop participants painting lines
Some of them already have a hand for calligraphy.
My journal is simple and not at all fancy.
Painting is fun!
Even random stuff unrelated to travel are fun to make.
As we were all having fun working on our journals, Robert Alejandro etched the wings and patterns of birds on the art space’s window.
At the art space is also this double deck bed where kids and kids-at-heart can hang out. Yep, I tried going up there.
We loved this papier mache horse!
On some of the shelves are miniature creations lovingly collected by Papemelroti’s matriarch, Socorro Alejandro. The rooms look like elaborate dollhouse rooms.
Papemelroti Artisan’s Workshop is perfect for dates, bonding with family or friends, or even solo art therapy.
Making art
Address and other details:
Papemelroti Artisan’s Workshop
91 Don A. Roces Ave, Diliman, Quezon City, Metro Manila
(632)375 1069
Open daily, 8 am to 8 pm
Fee for borrowing art materials from P50-P100
Art projects to choose from start at P10
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