GROWING UP WITHOUT TV

Brothers build dreams on handmade scrapbooks
Text and photos by Ephraim Aguilar, page B4
Inquirer Southern Luzon
INQUIRER.net

DARAGA, ALBAY— They say everyone is born with an artistic side. It is how these talents are honed at a young age that will spell the difference between adults with artistic flair and those without.

Baruga brothers Jhonmark, 19, and King George, 17, grew up in a home without television. Tinkering with art materials became their pastime. Thus they developed an eye for mixing colors and a hand for cutting shapes and putting pieces together to create an artwork.

“Our mother didn’t want a television set in our house and we didn’t know why. So most of the time we were busy doing artwork at home,” King George says.

Today, the Baruga brothers, who are both education students in Bicol University in Daraga, Albay, are gaining popularity among their peers for their artworks.

Their products? Handmade scrapbooks and greeting cards.

They have been invited to set up their own exhibits in different places in the Bicol region and have also been receiving individual and bulk orders of their handcrafts.

The Baruga brothers realized that their hobby had the potential of becoming a profitable enterprise.

They have already created over 70 scrapbook designs for their exhibits. The designs fall under themes or categories, among which are the “Four Seasons, Festivals, Coffee, Black and White, Emo (emotional hardcore) and Gold and Silver.”

While maintaining their grades as academic scholars, Jhonmark and King George manage to work on their handcrafts every week to meet orders.

The two have devised their own strategies on saving time and dividing tasks. King George is usually the thinker, while Jhonmark is more the doer.

Designs

“Themes and design concepts would usually come from me, that is my strength, while my brother is good at finishing touches,” King George says.

He adds that they could finish 50 scrapbooks in a day if the paper had already been cut and other accessories prepared in advance. They deliver orders within seven days.


In one of their exhibits at Bicol University here, a 30-piece order was placed by students from another university.

“It feels good that people are not just able to appreciate our work but also want to have our artworks as their own stuff,” Jhonmark says.

Aside from the common designs, the Baruga brothers also cater to personalized orders.

Two of the most saleable scrapbook varieties are the “Coffee” and “Four Seasons.”

The “Coffee” scrapbooks come in shades of brown and are literally made of coffee. The covers and pages have been brushed with liquid coffee creating a vibrant brown and a pleasing aroma.

The “Four Seasons” collection has four items designed after winter, spring, summer and fall. They come as collector’s items or a boxed set.

Scrapbook prices range from P75 to P500 depending on the size, the design and the materials to be used. Customized items are a little more expensive than the ready-made ones.

“Scrapbooks in commercial establishments would range from P225 to P1,000 and they are bare. But the companies manufacturing them would sell accessories separately, which are more costly,” says King George.

Personalized scrapbooks come in various forms and shapes. One of them came in the shape of a guitar or a dress, reflecting their owners’ interests in music and in fashion.

“Designs are limitless. We create just almost anything, whatever people want,” Jhonmark says.

The regular size of a scrapbook is 9 inches by 5 in. The prices of handmade greeting cards range from P5 to P30, depending on the size and design. The brothers also sell personalized picture frames and boxes.

Most of these products are made from indigenous materials—from dried and dyed hay, abaca fiber, seeds, flowers, feathers, leaves, shells, scrap paper, cloth and other objects picked from just anywhere then recycled.

Dream

Since childhood, the Baruga brothers already showed signs of entrepreneurship.

“When our teacher assigned projects, we would go to the city to shop for art materials and sold them to our classmates. We lived in a rural town where students seldom visit the city,” Jhonmark recounts.

King George says their parents, who were supportive of their interests and talents, gave them P10,000 to mount their first exhibit.

“We invested it in tools to make our work easier and faster. We want to pay our parents back once we have gained profit,” King George says.

King George says greeting cards and scrapbooks manufactured through advanced technology are still available in bookstores but can be quite expensive. And since they are mass produced, the designs are very common.

“We dream to become like Hallmark,” Jhonmark says, half seriously.

Hallmark is a century-old international company that produces greeting cards and keepsake ornaments.

Jhonmark adds that they envision to build a local company that will make available to the locals cheaper but stylish greeting cards and memory-keeping items.