Marketman Finds at the DTI National Handicrafts Fair at SM Megamall

I saw the ad in today’s Inquirer and didn’t have much to do, so I moseyed on over to SM Megamall to take a quick look through the handicrafts fair. I like to attend these fairs to see what’s new or to get more of the tried and true. Over the years, I must say that overall the quality of goods on offer seems to have deteriorated, both in the craftmanship, design and quality of the end product. That’s a sweeping statement, and there were interesting exceptions, but overall, I think the death knell for Pinoy handicrafts has been tolled several times, and the best of the best weren’t really present at this show. Having said that, I did find some interesting things… first up, the miniature abaca fiber pine trees up top. Over the decades, I have collected upwards of 50 such trees on foreign trips and at local sales, all for the annual gingerbread creation at Chez Marketman. I have paid anywhere from $3 to say PHP250 for a single tree. Turns out they are MADE HERE, out of abaca fiber! So I ended up with 30 more trees today, ranging in price from PHP15-45 each! A total bargain, in my opinion… and now we will have more forests for the gingerbread. :)

Also for the holiday season, I scored a dozen pine cone ornaments of bone china, overruns or rejects from the local manufacturer of a rather hoity-toity French purveyor of porcelain. If they had more, I would have taken them as well. They are a bit heavy for a tree, but they might do nicely in a bowl laid out on a table during the holidays, or to anchor a place card at a Christmas dinner. I won’t reveal the very reasonable price I paid, as I might give some away as presents. Suffice it to say they cost a teeny tiny fraction of the retail price of the branded product when it gets to Europe or the U.S. :)

One of the stalls had 25 acacia batidors, and I bought all of them. We sell good Cebuano tablea at some Zubuchon outlets and I wanted to sell these alongside for folks (balikbayans often) who want to take a batidor back to their homes abroad. There were a few nice baskets on offer, but a Tesoro’s buyer who got there minutes before me (I got there just 30 minutes after the fair opened!) bought up most of the stuff I was interested in. My mother used to collect local baskets and it’s a real shame how much skill and craftmanship we seem to have lost in just a generation or two. The baskets on offer these days are horrific when compared to say 30-40 years ago! What also surprised me was the absence of any decent abaca placemat suppliers. I can normally count on these fairs to replace abaca placemats that are stained or worn (we use them almost daily) but there wasn’t a single supplier in the bunch…

An odd re-purposed purchase were these two kamagong arnis sticks. Instead of whacking opponents with them, I am going to try using them for rolling out ensaimada dough over the holidays. The smaller lighter sticks might work well with our tiny kitchen center island, extending over the edge of the table to make nice thin dough. At PHP175 each, in kamagong, I thought they were a bargain as well.

And finally, from Romblon, I got two medium sized mortars and pestles. At PHP400 each, well-priced. I want to use one for Asian spices and ingredients, and the other for western herbs and spices. The same vendor had pretty nice urns for dead folks’ ashes at PHP1,000 which I thought was also a steal. I considered getting one or two and using them as a flower vase or to store kitchen utensils until such time that they might be needed. But then again, I have always wanted to have a window in my urn, so I can gaze out at the world after I have been reduced to ashes. :)

If you are in the vicinity and into these kinds of things, pay the folks at the Handicrafts Fair a visit. I appreciate it when the Department of Trade and Industry organizes these things and so I tend to go if I can…

National Handicrafts Fair
Sept 19-23, 2012
SM Megatrade Halls 1,2 & 3