The Spark Project continues to build a community of Creative Entrepreneurs

Whether we’re conscious of it or not, ideas make the world go round. Think about it. The arts and humanities are borne of concepts. Science’s biggest breakthroughs were kickstarted by several eureka moments—lightbulbs clicking into place in one’s head. The most iconic films and tunes you can think of or the beautiful literary works that have made so much of an impact all started with one’s thoughts—the creative musings that have consumed him so. Patch Dulay is well aware of this. He didn’t know it then, but circa 2009 would mark the beginning of a passion project. It would be the first step to his quest of making ideas come to reality. One step at a time, one Filipino at a time.

Photography by Zaldine Jae Alvaro

Shot on location at: Acceler8 Coworking, Tordesillas, Makati

His brainchild www.TheSparkProject.com was born at the right time in the right place. Social media was quickly beginning its ascent, start-ups were no longer alien, and  e-commerce was gaining its appeal. The Philippines began to notice the trend that was catching fire internationally and was keen on welcoming the brand new endeavors with open arms. Enter “crowdfunding”. At first glance, one would be suspicious of the whole concept. But you would be surprised how the culture of crowdfunding is not really all that new to us. We do it when we pull for the bill (the infamous KKB) with the barkada on a weekend hangout. We do it when we raise funds for charity. The concept of formal crowdfunding deals with exactly the same get-go, but leverages on web technologies. And The Spark Project is here to change your perception on the concept and, while they’re at it, seeks to build a growing community of creative entrepreneurs.

The Spark Project moonlights as an avenue for local products to come to fruition, a safe haven for homegrown "aha" moments to reach their end goal, and a platform where innovation is made more intimate to the potential consumer. It works both ways—offline and online. Offline, TSP is heavy on cultivating the culture. They hold several regular sessions for different entities and individuals to educate them about the plausible concept and how one can benefit from such. Online, Spark is heavy on the curating and making the experience a user-friendly one. The process is as easy as logging in, creating a project page that would come out like a Facebook fan page, (thus visualizing the whole concept to your market), and setting a goal—a particular sum that would help make the project a success.

Patch explains further as he takes a sip of his morning coffee, “It’s a marketing tool for businesses that allow them to validate their idea. If they want to launch a new product and test the waters with the public, with this endeavor, they’re bound to know if their idea would fly. They could also use it for research and development or continuous improvement for their product. It’s really good for brands because it allows them to hype their product, and at the same time, they’re simultaneously raising funds. Even after the campaign is over, you get the exposure that you need. It’s a good way to jumpstart your business and it’s not an expensive way to do it”.

There’s a common thread that belies the community their team helped start. One is the fact that it sets the “Love Local” movement into motion. Another is the fact that ingenuity comes naturally to these folks—almost as if it’s a pulsing thread that make up their DNA. They’re dreamers empowered to make it happen for themselves. In the same breath, the feeling of empowerment is even stronger as they get to virtually tap into people who have the same wavelength as theirs, believe in what they do, and are willing to support them all the way.

And the success stories just keep coming. Nipa Brew’s is one for the books. They’ve come a long way from introducing their first flavor online to expanding to a full-fledged line—four, to be exact—of craft beers. The GOUACHE is also a true blue crowdfunding baby. From the concept of camera bags launched via The Spark Project, the brand now proudly carries several meticulously handcrafted waxed-canvas bags for the urban chic. Patch even got his personal project in the pipeline, the Obrano Minimalist—heritage wallets that allow you to make room for the meaningful. “I built my own leather engraved brand and I wanted to launch it through crowdfunding. We were able to raise a lot—three times more than what we set for. We ended the project with 200K with only an initial goal of 60K. It’s a way for us to get pre-orders of the wallet so we were able to produce the first batch, move our staff, and have enough money to make the business continuously work,” he shares. Not to mention a number of purposeful cause-oriented projects that made its debut on the site as well.

Now on its fifth year, The Spark Project shows no signs of slowing down. 2017 is a year centered on celebration and giving back. Aside from spreading out more sessions all over different parts of the Metro, the highlight is the Spark Festival happening in June. The festival will be a gathering of The Spark Project’s alumni, of creative people and doers, and of change makers in the local entrepreneurship landscape. The most interesting aspect of the festival perhaps is the fashion to which it attributes itself to—going back to its roots as they managed to raise a sum almost more than half of their working goal through crowdfunding via their website. Though still in its infancy stage, The Spark Project’s potential to up the ante of the Filipino’s flair for ideas shine brightest.

As the last few drips of coffee drains from the cup, the sun’s presence grows as it draws back the remnants of the morning and prepares for the onset of the afternoon. Our conversation draws to a close and Patch couldn't have summed things up better, “We always believe that Filipinos have the capacity to create really good things, world-class things. Sometimes, we just don’t embrace it. More often than not, we are the last people to believe in what we can do, right? But really, we just have to believe in ourselves and execute. For us in The Spark Project, we want to be able to nurture that kind of creative culture. If you have an idea, if you have a business, and love local, we can help connect you with the right people. Creative entrepreneurship is what we stand for."

Local Tunes Round Up: Ben & Ben, Squid 9, Asch, Ankhten Brown, Leon.

Manila’s days are heating up, and local musicians are only here to add to that. This week’s local tunes round up features two new tape releases, a cool spin on a meme, a new single from an up and coming duo, and a fresh new music video. Cool yourself from the blazing sun with fresh new music below:

Ankthen Brown ft. Dru Jetzon - Cash Me Outside

Most memes end up overused and overstaying their welcome, but Ankthen Brown and Dru Jetzon’s spin on the popular line Cash Me Outside makes you forget its annoying origin. The song is quick but catchy, and you’re sure to be repeating its hook after your first listen, which we’re sure won’t be your last.

Ben & Ben - Leaves

Fresh from their successful EP launch last December, it seems like the duo Ben & Ben have no plans of taking it slow anytime soon with their latest release titled Leaves. A departure from their more upbeat first single Ride Home, Leaves is somewhat sad yet hopeful, apt for its subject of endings and beginnings.

Leon. - Statements

Two years since his last release, Leon. comes back with a new name and a fresh beat tape to boot. Previously known as SOUL_BRK, Leon. opts for a honest and simpler approach to his music, evident in his new drop. The song statements is a standout, complemented with Timothy Vaughn’s flawless bars, but we guarantee that each track off the tape will pull you in.

Asch - Beats for Sale/Lease

Hot on the heels of his Ashes to Ashes track release, electronic soul and jazz musician Asch does everyone a favor with his Beats For Sale/Lease set. Armed with his usual head bobbing beats, each track is slick and smooth, some with tight drops sure to give you eargasm. 

Squid 9 - Shiny

Local electronic group Squid 9 dropped the video for Shiny, a song off their 2016 album Weld. Enlisting the help of Taken By Cars drummer Bryan Kong, the video sees members Shinji Tanaka, Ymi Castel, and Raymund Marasigan passing a mystery box along the walls of Crazy Katsu, NAIA, and the streets of Hong Kong. The mystery is never revealed throughout the video, but the smooth beats and the vicarious travel to Hong Kong make the cliffhanger worth it.

Curtismith just wants to free his mind

“I’m the one they badmouth,” opens Manila rap artist Mito Fabie, known for his moniker Curtismith (a portmanteau of famous Filipina actress Anne Curtis’s surname), on his new EP, Soully, Yours. The idea of dissing, in and of itself, is a part of rap’s DNA. One of the most pervasive arguments in its history and one of the core of rap pride is authenticity, something Curtismith himself reveres and aims to translate through his songs. As he navigates the local industry, he finds himself a target for exactly who he strives to represent: himself and earning his place in a culture that relishes in hypercompetition, representation, and – dare I say – greatness. In Curtismith’s case, he is aware of the criticism that inevitably comes with his work. Asked about it, he seemed unperturbed. “I heard a couple of [diss] tracks but they weren’t good enough to make me feel any type of way to give it more attention that it needs,” he said.

Words by MC Galang & Photography by Marvin Conanan

Filipino hip-hop is currently experiencing a renaissance, an overdue recalibration of prevalent, but outdated, styles from the 20th century and early 2000s and reshaping audience perception. We are way behind our Asian neighbors in terms of progress and recognition, a frustrating irony for a good reason: despite the prevalence and global domination of hip-hop in pop culture, we have a burdensome slow progress of catching up, at least collectively speaking: there seems to be a fixation to an earlier era that popularized rap rock, novelty rap, and boom bap iterations, most of which did not age well. The rebirth of local hip-hop sees both innovation and diversification, much like how Western hip-hop continues to seep into different musical styles and cultures all over the world. Curtismith believes that the local scene has both the panache and the talent to deliver: “We’re bringing a different flavor to the global melting pot. We’re currently in the process of making an ‘ecosystem’ of urban music with all these different styles and artists – and the more new and old artists emerge with honest content, the more the rest of the world will find our country appealing from the variety of sound and emotion we offer and connect through.” That is why ‘conyo rap’, a local epithet that denotes the social class status of the MC and little else, feels hindering to him. “It shows how society likes to box things in and can sometimes be too quick to judge before actually giving it a chance.” He adds, “We need improvement in the whole ‘us versus them’ mentality and understand that we don’t need to have the same views, but we need each other for the bigger picture, [which is] global recognition.”

With three releases (the latest being a two-part EP) under his belt in a span of a little over a year, Curtismith said he considers himself an outsider. “I personally don’t label my music rap or hip-hop, nor do I like to call myself a rapper,” he explains. He admitted that prior to entering the industry, he didn’t know much about the local hip-hop scene. When asked if he thinks labeling his music something else instead of rap or hip-hop would draw less aversion towards him by his contemporaries, he simply said, “I would like to just be an artist who expresses himself in different forms.” For him, “Rap is an expression of self. For people who think that it can’t be done by another set of people because they are different is just another ‘-ism’ in play.’’ Despite everything, he acknowledges that it’s all part of the game. “But not pondered on for too long,” he concluded.

Finding His Groove

Curtismith’s latest two-part EP release is a comparatively more ambitious follow-up to his previous efforts: IDEAL, a demo tape with promising moments but ultimately came up short, and Failing Forward, which included the endearingly gallant ‘LDR’. Even after the combined 18 tracks of both, Curtismith delivers an overall interesting, yet fragmented, body of work. What it felt lacking in cohesion, he made up with diligence: putting himself out there, releasing a series of polished music videos and just enough prominent features in a number of EPs and full-length albums from longtime collaborators CRWN, Jess Connelly, and fellow rap artists NINNO and Skarm. It all came together, starting with the process of rolling out his new EP in advance on Twitter for listeners to provide feedback. “It was… me wanting to understand how my songs affected a listener and connecting more with the audience that does appreciate what I offer. A thank you, as well as a ‘Please let me know what you think so next time I can do better.’”

On Soully Yours, the first part of his new EP, Curtismith is inarguably in his best form. His confessional style of rap yields nuances of intimacy, “snapshots of particular points in my life,” according to him, that he wishes to convey in characteristically soulful vibe. It is easily his most conceptualized effort to date. The songs are woven to each other thematically and lyrically, and while he mostly takes himself seriously, he allows himself to get loose and even throw in a couple of quips. It’s easy to tag ‘Snowflake Obsidian’ as Curtismith’s best song since the CRWN-produced ‘LDR’, with its months-long premature release that helped build the interest in the single itself and the upcoming EP, but it’s the closing track, ‘Free My Mind’ that best asserts his strengths as an MC, providing us with variations in his usual cadence and just simply providing a strong, memorable record. The seven-track EP features all-original production from Filipino producers Howle (‘Prologue, ‘West’), J. Wong (title track), Kidthrones (‘Snowflake Obsidian’, ‘24’, ‘Free My Mind’), and CRWN (‘No Ways’, which has the sole feature from Jess Connelly), a fact Curtismith takes pride on. “Everything from the beginning has been collaborative, from production to recording and sound engineering.” The second part of the EP, titled Rehearsals, is a project in collaboration with a young production collective called Stages Sessions. All five songs were recorded with a live band setup that largely incorporated jazz and blues. While it is not entirely new nor uncommon in hip-hop in general, it may initially feel like an idiosyncratic approach to his music and local rap in particular. Curtismith is confident in his musical decisions and heading towards this direction. On whether he plans on translating the band setup to the studio, he said, “I would love to… but more practice has to be done before I’m confident in incorporating it with content that I come out with from the studio. It’s a learning process I still have to develop.”

The first Spill the Beans of 2017 talked about the relevance of Handmade

While everyone else was just getting started on their day, Yardstick was already packed and busy serving coffee after coffee. There must have been 40+ people that Saturday morning, and they were all there for one thing – to Spill the Beans. Spill the Beans is a quarterly get-together hosted by Yardstick and Purveyr, where ideas are shared, exchanged and challenged. What happens is the invited speakers will share their ideas and thoughts on a given topic, then there will be a quick panel interview just before we open the floor for questions from the audience.

The first Spill the Beans of 2017 was held last March 25 at Yardstick, and it circled around the question "How can handmade products remain competitive and relevant in this age of technology?" We extended this query to the invited speakers, individuals who support the handmade movement through their own brands and businesses.

Jerard Jader

Co-Owner & Managing Partner of Sapatero Manila

Sapatero is a Filipino shoemaking brand that specializes in men's leather dress shoes. Their goal is to revitalize the Philippine shoemaking industry by realizing the craftsmanship needed in making them. Jerard's role is to seek out opportunities for Sapatero to grow locally, then later on be globally recognized with their high-quality footwear.

Simone Mastrota

Owner & Chocolate Maker of Tigre y Oliva

Tigre y Olivia is a bean to bar chocolate brand based in San Juan, La Union. After spending some time in California and Europe to perfect his craft of chocolate-making, Simone decided to move to the Philippines as he saw an opportunity for artisanal chocolate made from Filipino Cacao. 

Chi Gibbs

Co-Founder & Designer of Neon Island

Neon Island is a Filipino clothing brand for women dedicated to celebrating the local. All their pieces use hand drawn prints designed by Chi. The clothes they put out are a representation of her creativity and passion for the arts, as she is the sole designer and textile print artist of Neon Island.

Ettore Scagliola

After Sales Specialist of La Marzocco (Italy)

La Marzocco takes pride in their high quality espresso machines handcrafted in Florence since 1927. It has been 90 years since their conception, so their world renowned reputation is as expected. La Marzocco strives to produce top of the notch specialty coffee equipment that goes beyond the actual machine and the coffee it produces.

After hearing these four individuals talk about their work and their passion, one can only imagine the positive energy that enveloped the room. The exchange of ideas was informative as it is inspiring leaving the audience eager to know more.

Join us at the next installment of Spill the Beans. Stay tuned and follow us on Instagram.

Tomorrow's Second Collection is all about Letting Loose

Starting from a fondness of thrift-shopping and a philosophy lesson, local brand Tomorrow is now on its second collection. And it's looking cooler than ever.

Photographed by Andrea Beldua, the collection takes off from the first with designs responding to 2016. "Admittedly [2016] was a pretty bad year," said Tim Lopez, one of Tomorrow's founders. "So we thought this would represent letting loose, letting wild, letting go of bad things."

This is a sentiment prevalent in the collection's lookbook, making use of solid pastels and a retro feel. And mixing in quirky graphics with uplifting sentiments, it's definitely something you'd want to wear the whole summer long. You can purchase Tomorrow clothing at tinyurl.com/ordersoftomorrow.

BP Valenzuela’s releases irresistible first single, ‘bbgirl’ off upcoming new album

A few weekends ago, BP Valenzuela unveiled her new single and music video, ‘bbgirl’, featuring August Wahh (Chocolate Grass) and No Rome, who also directed the video. Released as the first single off her upcoming full-length album, Crydancer , ‘bbgirl’ is remarkably different – arrangement-wise – from the distinctly electronic pop ballads featured in her debut, The Neon Hour, and first EP, be/ep. On ‘bbgirl’, BP Valenzuela refocuses on her own vulnerability by playing to her songwriting strengths and signing up more collaborators to execute a sound that stays true to herself but also celebrates her experiences that helped shape who she is today (Crydancer sounds like her reimagining of (or nod to) what Robyn did with the smashingly endearing Body Talk). And it shows, with ‘bbgirl’s charm and whimsy, which No Rome was able to train his lens on impressively. Moreover, its notable feat in editing gracefully shows the build-up of sweet tension between the leads, fulfilling its purpose rather than exploiting an act for mere shock value. The groovy bassline, which anchors the song all throughout, is BP at her danciest since ‘Pretty Car’ and ‘Building Too’, only with a tad slower tempo. It’s a pretty straightforward track, but incredibly technical. No Rome hops on for closing verse, to, if anything, drive the song home.

On This Island: A Visit to the Independent Shops of Cubao Expo

After the short run of PurveyrTV back in 2013, we never had the chance to do another video show. Although it was always something we really wanted to do, there was no opportunity to produce one again. But after four years, and in PURVEYR's 5th year, we now find ourselves putting out our second official video show. While this is something completely different from the past talk show, it still carries the same objective as before – to shine light on the Philippine creative culture.

This time around we do it outside – meeting people, visiting places, and exploring ideas. The new show captures the essence of PURVEYR. It will feature individuals, brands, spaces, concepts, and more. All those that we admire and believe in, On This Island. The show is designed to be an entertaining and sincere way of presenting the local creative culture and community. Let our host, Christopher Catral's (MNL$) curiosity and energy inspire you to look at "local" in a different perspective.

For the first episode of On This Island, Chris took a trip to Quezon City to visit the renowned creative spot, Cubao Expo. Known as the "Marikina Shoe Expo" in its earlier days, Cubao Expo evolved to become a space for independent businesses and concepts, which established its creative appeal. From art galleries to lifestyle stores, antique shops to unique restaurants, the mix of retail concepts is interestingly very diverse. One sunny afternoon, we met with a few of the shop owners to get a glimpse of the inspiring energy that Cubao Expo brings about. We visited Kendo Creative – a coffee shop mixed with design retail by Kayo Cosio, Gold Digger – a shop by Angelo Mendez selling vinyl records, local clothing, secondhand footwear, and more, Post Gallery – a progressive art gallery that provides a platform for new local artists, and Medisina – a clothing store by the members of the band, Greyhoundz. Chris talked to them to know more about their shops, and to understand Cubao Expo through the point of view of its tenants.

Special thanks to Playhouse Studio, Bawal Clan, Similarobjects and Buwanbuwan Collective

Illustrado unleashes their Debut Self-Titled Album to give you that Classic Hip-Hop Sound

Today's boom in the local hip hop scene has captured many listeners and supporters thanks to the music's diverse flavors. The artists currently taking over  has spawned under different genres. For those who long for hard- hitting lines rapped on boom bap beats, then better check out hip hop quartet Illustrado. Composed of emcees Batas, Sayadd, and Goriong Talas, with music from producer Apo Lerma, they just released their first, self-titled album under Uprising Records. The 15-track project is nothing short of finely-crafted, from the musicality of the instrumentals, the lyrics, down to the sound engineering. Peep the music video for maiden single "Hayop" above, while you can also check out the rest of the songs below. Now available at Astrovision and Astroplus, or you can also contact Uprising Records for online orders.