It’s the most wonderful time of the year. The air is colder, malls are open later, and the traffic is heavier. 2017 saw its fair share of fashion collections, trends, and more importantly–collaborations. In a competitive market, collaborations have become increasingly common. They popped up like mushrooms this year, in particular. It truly is a time of giving, and in no specific order, we give you CLAVEL’s top picks for best collaborations of the year that was 2017.
1. Garapata x Kalsada Coffee
It’s always a good time when art and coffee collide. We’ve seen it on artisan coffee cups and doodled planners, but this one takes the cake. Kalsada is one of the country’s specialty coffee companies. Prided on quality, collaboration, and sustainability. It was only a matter of time until local tapped local when they chose veteran artist Dex Fernandez for a collab. Garapata has been at it since 2007 and is by no means a new face in the art world. Experienced in painting, installations, and street art, he displayed great craftsmanship and artistry in what he came up with working with Kalsada Coffee; limited edition coffee bags for Harana Blend. They also came up with a tote bag, stickers, and shirts. The whole shebang was called Koffee Junkie Klub.
2. DBTK x Pony
Pony may not be as neck-snapping as adidas, or Nike in the sneakerworld. Nonetheless, they’re veterans in the game and no OG will deny that. They survived this long, and that in itself earns them respect and street cred. So for them to collab with Don’t Blame The Kids (–a young brand), is no feat to be left unnoticed. Pony picked Don’t Blame The Kids for the Philippine leg of their Asia-wide collaboration venture which included countries Korea, Japan, and Hong Kong. DBTK got to play around with Pony’s Shooter and City Wings. The kids released these bad boys last November.
3. BenCab x Secret Fresh
Benedicto Cabrera is one of the most decorated Filipino artists and is one of the best-selling painters of his generation of visual artists. And on the other hand, Secret Fresh is a vinyl toy shop that caters to the niche toy market–rightfully an artform of its own. So for the two art gallery entities to work together, is unexpected to say the least. The BenCab museum and Secret Fresh could not be any more different from each other. And yet they find themselves producing some of the most beautiful pieces to exhibit. The result? “Gaze” & “Heads”. Sculptures, toys, figures, it’s what you want it to be–art. See the rest of the works in Secret Fresh’s Facebook page.
4. BP Valenzuala x No Rome x August Wahh
The kids are alright, as the title goes. Electronic music artists BP Valenzuela, No Rome, and August Wahh did what they do best with the song “bbgirl” and that’s producing music. Perhaps the catchiest lyrics from an electronic song, the trio of talented musicians delivered what anyone would expect from a collaboration of these three. Stellar performances. The song even made its way to the Majestic Casual YouTube page. Well thought lyrics, tuneful lyrics, and melodic synths. A true Valenzuela, Rome, and Wahh masterpiece. The complete list of credits can be found in the music video’s full description on YouTube.
5. Franco x Reese Lansangan
Opposites attract, and the song “Off of Center” by Reese and Franco is proof of that. Produced by Raimund Marasigan and Buddy Zabala under Coke Studio PH, the song is nothing short of a banger. It’s rare that this kind of collaboration ever happens as musical styles that are too far from each other and have very little in common by their artists and are hard to mesh. But somehow they all pulled it off with “Off of Center”. Franco’s music has always been on the reggae rock side, arguably the complete opposite of Reese Lansangan’s very pop style, but the YouTube video’s 2.9 million view count strongly suggests that they made it work.
6. Daily Grind x Ian Marinda
Tattoos usually go on your skin and not on your clothes. So to have a tattoo artist’s illustration printed on clothing is a refreshing way to wear your tattoo artist’s work. While the concept isn’t inherently new–it’s been done by a few brands and is done every so often–it’s rarely as good. Ian Marinda’s surrealistic work is a unique take on tattoos and is taken by Daily Grind onto a whole new level with typography play on clothing, a collection they called, “Capsule Collection.”
2017 saw some great collaborations, and it goes beyond our short handful of picks. There’s so much talent and potential in the country for even greater things to happen. If 2017 is any indication of quality collaborations for the coming years, then we can’t wait.
