It's an invitation to pause and smell the pages.
The village bookshop and one of its owners (right), Marina Cruz. | PHOTO BY ISTORYA STUDIOS INC.
(SPOT.ph) After venturing into book publishing, Rodel Tapaya and Marina Cruzjust opened their Istorya Studios Bookshop, another arm of the startup the artist-couple founded during the pandemic. “The bookshop is located inside a village in Guiguinto, full of plant growers and ornamental gardens. We don’t know what to expect; if people will really come, if people will find us, if people will stop and take time to go visit a bookstore… “ writes Marina in Facebook post announcing the opening.
The bookshop is a converted garage that’s within a walking distance from Rodel and Marina’s family home. Their kids Yohan, Keon and Lara helped put it together. It has a beautiful Archie Oclos mural on its facade—depicting a grandmother reading to her apos —plus a big window that allows in a lot of light inside. “We’ve been preparing for this since middle of this year,” writes Marina. “We don’t know if we are going to be successful, but we keep telling ourselves that we will be the first ones who will be nourished by having lots of books around.”
The garage is now a bookshop with a facade sporting a mural by Archie Oclos. | PHOTO BY ISTORYA STUDIOS INC.
What books can visitors expect at Istorya Studios Bookshop
The books on offer are mostly Filipiniana titles, from publishing houses such as Adarna House, Anino Comics, 19th Avenida Publishing House, Everything's Fine PH, UP Press, Ateneo de Manila University Press, Grana Books, and Komiket. There’s also a section for books not for sale, which includes foreign titles and mostly from the owners’ personal collection; they're free for browsing inside the store.
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