Interview Patrick Kasingsing
Images Estante Bookstore
Hello Team Estante! It is no surprise to find out that you are architects by profession, judging by the stringent curation of architecture titles on your store shelves; what, however, prompted the idea to start a bookstore?
Hello, Kanto! It comes from a place of need. It’s hard to find good architecture books here in the Philippines and most of our books are bought during our travels. So, we decided to bring in the books that we love and share them with other professionals, students, and design enthusiasts. When we started, we ordered the books that are already on our ‘estante’ or shelves. We were pleasantly surprised to find that a lot of people shared an interest in these books.
You started Estante amidst the pandemic; what inspired the decision to start anyhow even with the less-than-ideal conditions?
We’ve always wanted to start this business alongside our architecture practice but had a hard time finding the chance to kick it into fruition. The beginning of the pandemic provided us with the time we need. The pandemic forced us to locate the business wholly online, but in the future, we’d like to put up a physical bookstore so that buyers can visit and check the books firsthand.
What was your initial goal for the bookstore? Did you see this goal evolving as months and sales passed by? How has it evolved now?
In the beginning, we only sold architecture-related books, but we gradually added titles on art, industrial design, and other allied fields. The realms of art, architecture, and culture are naturally intertwined so it made sense to expand our collection to include books on these fields as well.
What excites you about what you do in the bookstore?
We’re practically buying books for ourselves! (laughs) Opening new titles excite us the most. Our architecture practice is Estante’s number one client!
As you said, it is quite hard to find specialty bookstores on architecture and design locally with a wide array of titles; Why do you think there is a dearth of these books locally?
Most of the design books that are available locally are coffee table books and monographs that tend to lean towards prevailing market tastes; thus the variety and voices aren’t as wide-ranging or distinct. Our take is that these may be reflective of the state of the profession and/or how it is perceived by the general public. Either way, more available literature about our craft is beneficial to both designers and the general public. Like ourselves, most design offices and practitioners build their own studio libraries and want titles that are informative, inspiring, and as varied as the different creative voices present in the world today. This is where we hope we can help.
What do you think is necessary to foster and encourage a community of well-read creatives?
We need to make design literature available and accessible to encourage a well-read community of creatives; this availability opens them up to the myriad voices and solutions present today as well as the value of constant innovation. We need to have that choice, to be privy to these different approaches and solutions, and to discover for ourselves which ones resonate with our personal values and how we practice our craft. These books can open us to historical facts, current trends, and foresight to the future of our fields. The amount of misinformation and fake news rampant in today’s media landscape is all the more reason to encourage a love and habit of reading books.
“We’re practically buying books for ourselves! Opening new titles excite us the most.”
What are some dream publishers and titles you wish to carry?
We hope to carry more books about Filipino architects, designers, and artists. We hope that local and international publishers and writers produce more books about the Philippine creative industry as there’s a lot to be proud of! We’re happy that Birkhauser and Jean-Claude Girard made a book about Leandro Locsin that featured his work globally and we’re proud to be able to carry this title on our shelves.
How do you curate which books to include in your shop? What boxes does each book need to tick to meet the ideal desirability vs. demand ratio?
We are our own target market: If it can be part of our own office and home library, then we sell it in Estante. We are trying hard to balance the desirability and demand of our titles as first-time booksellers, though inevitably, there will be books that sell more than others; architecture books with construction details for example are a particular favorite of our clientele.
While the print-versus-digital debate rages on, the trend isn’t as prevalent or felt with architecture and design titles. Why do you think this is so?
Design professionals often produce physical, tactile works, and thus support and prefer printed titles in general due to their sensory quality. Printed media engages our senses and the activity of reading physical books is seen as pleasurable and relaxing as you ingest content at your own pace, minus the distractions.
There is a small, but growing number of locally-produced literature on local architecture and architects; as your library is mostly of foreign titles, will there be interest on your end to host these books as well?
Most of these local books are already in the Philippine market. We can’t compete against the bigger local bookstores so we bring in books that they don’t have. In the future, we’d like to expand and sell local titles as well, and if possible, support independent writers to publish their works.
Can you let us in on your observations about your buyers? What books or titles do they usually look for?
The majority of our buyers are predictably architecture professionals mainly because most of our books are from that field. We have graphic and industrial designer buyers as well. They usually look for titles that they can use for work, be it as a reference or a source of inspiration. We have some repeat customers that we think are building their personal libraries.
Estante as a ‘child’ of the pandemic is exclusively run online; Can you tell us about your plans for a physical bookstore? What can we look forward to in Estante?
Yes, as mentioned, we plan to open a physical bookstore in the future, where people can visit and read our books. Beyond being a place to access information, we’d also like this future space to be a place of learning and collaboration between creatives of all stripes, a place where they can read, gather, learn and discuss. We plan to expand our current titles and stocks as well to better reflect and introduce the current state of design and culture in today’s world to local readers.
You are voracious readers yourselves: can you share your current top five architecture and design reads with us?
1. Leandro Valencia Locsin: Filipino Architect from Birkhauser, 2. Peter Zumthor – Atmospheres from Birkhauser, 3. Elemental from Phaidon, 4. Le Corbusier Le Grand from Phaidon, and 5. Eduardo Souta de Moura from Pall Mall Press. •
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