ANGLES
Old Bones,
New Soul
Eric Paras’ Artelano 11 celebrates
beauty that gets better with age
I n t e rv ie w Patrick Kasingsing
Can you tell us about Artelano 11 and its beginnings?
Fourteen years ago, I came into a 15-house compound in Pasay that was
being rented out as residences to expats, creatives and businessmen. I saw a
vacant house that was numbered a-11.It was love at first sight. The thought
of converting the house into a design and lifestyle gallery—inspired by
quaint and chic shops I saw on a memorable Paris trip—popped up. When I
moved in, I decided to turn it into an atelier, residence and showroom that
we now know sa Artelano 11.
Our name is a combination of the house number and the Tarlacqueno
word for “skilled worker”, artelano. I was born and raised in Tarlac, and I used
to hear that word from my mother whenever she would hire a carpenter to do
improvements in our house.
What encouraged you to repurpose these aging properties into a
mixed-use space for furniture, interior design and events?
I have a love affair with the houses. In order to maintain and preserve
them, I needed to put up a business. It was also great timing that the “hipster
culture” had became popular [when we started]. People were on the lookout
for wonderful retail experiences and obscure spaces. I relied on word-of-mouth
reviews in promoting the place.
The space is a dream come true for me. When I was in college, I used
to visit a friend who lives in a posh Art Deco-style family house along Taft
Avenue, which sadly was demolished a few years ago. I had been daydreaming
of living in that old house in Pasay.
Eric Paras at Artelano 11
What about the process of putting together Artelano 11 did you find
enjoyable and memorable?
Friends tipped that putting up a furniture and design showroom in an
obscure place was not a good idea, that I should have invested somewhere else.
But I was very optimistic then with the belief that people will come, as it was
in that pivotal scene in the movie Field of Dreams.
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