As tourists, we claim the role of journalist: sweeping the streets we walk upon with extended glances, we pack the sights we wish to take back home. From these albums, quarried are the impressions that grip us essential: an intimate inventory of stills that once settled our feet to meet a place — photographs recounting our pauses.
After all, the music lies not in the notes, but in the spaces in between. If you rest yourself, you grant vision some room to dance. We often link travel with flight, but wonder, can too find those with fresh eyes.
Have you ever had a place reintroduce itself? Sometimes, travel simply means to walk past our doors.
Nestled within the bustling heart of Makati, plots places to be revisited. Sometimes, the exotic colors we seek lie no further than our city.
Together with the Fujifilm X-T30, PURVEYR explores the breadth and light of our alleys: urban intersections that illustrate the vibrant grit and pulsing inventiveness of Manilenyos;
Located in Pineapple Lab within Barangay Poblacion, this old-world boutique is a trove doused in beauty queen glamour embellished with dashing Filipiniana crude – raw, intrepid, heroine chic bathed in soft light. Scan the racks for prim trinkets, vintage frocks, and all things goody-goody.
“Look ma, it was just like the movies!” — It’s a treasure set full of gangsta priss delight. Wander into if you like things gilded bold, cinema, and pretty!
In contrast to pink nostalgia and romance, Built Cycles champions an atmosphere of dirt and brute. With its catchphrase “Withstand All,” the shop extends lines formed by slender, rough-edged tires into the city, directing cyclists towards rocky trails of adventure.
An open store, opening doors to the open road, this city deposit pins itself a launchpad, inviting urban dwellers to wheel themselves into the great outdoors.
Dive into local tones on plates at this seemingly casual eatery; with its interiors intentionally grayed, matte and flat, Toyo’s simple but warm space provides our senses some breathing room, allowing the fare to seize our imaginations instead. Explosions in the mouth alternately paint the walls of our palate, supplying us all the color we need.
Sometimes, places happen when we close our eyes; in this case, tasting is believing.
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2316 The Alley at Karrivin, Chino Roces Ave, Makati, 1231 Metro Manila
An assemblage is a gathering of things and people.
Intersecting art, fashion, music, performance, craftsmanship, culinary arts, and mixology, the Annex House invites us to bring community home. Situated behind the workshop store, the find further adds flavor to the experience.
Although still under construction, this house leaves no creative behind.
Merging utilitarian and aesthetic features, PURVEYR Post’s walls shelter both apparel and art. Framing the surge of local creative culture, hangers and shelves host merchandise distributed throughout its rectangular space.
On certain days, there’s coffee; on some nights, beer and music.
Every day, this stylish, elongated corridor is opportune for a walk-through.
MORE is more at Boogie: stark, saturated music posters lining its feed before a party strikes vivid; beats spilling and shifting into every corner and cranny; skin to skin against the backdrop of checkered floors and vivid graff.
“Horror Vacui” – A fear or dislike of leaving empty spaces, especially in artistic composition.
In this space, people fill and make the place.
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8483 Kalayaan Ave, cor. Matilde, Makati, 1210 Metro Manila
So maybe if you allowed a place to lead, travel could then grow expansive, welcoming tourist destinations to spill into our very own backyards.
When we open ourselves up to spaces, the world begins to make itself known.
Even in persons, there are places:
Depths of fields inviting us to light forgotten angles.
If we just pondered to open the room next door to expose the curious amiss,
Our itchy feet need not look past the spaces dancing right by us.
PRODUCTION TEAM
Producer — JB Estrada, Associate Producer — Em Meneses, Production Manager — Asha Molina, Director — Simon Te, DOP — Tim Dela Paz, Camera Operators — Ryan Dimarucut & Cocoy Ponce, Gaffer — Arar Ancero, Grip & AC — David Carandang, Editor — Miko Reyes, Writer — Dani Nikki Valenzuela & Simon Te, VO, Talent — Rocky Alli, Photographer — John Crawford
Special Thanks to:
Jason Magbanua, Jonathan Tal Placido, Felix Espina, Chryssta Cordoves and Trischa Padilla
