A place for artists
THERE are a lot of cafés that can be found in the metro. Some of them are already tapping the local artists’ growing potentials that they offer their spaces to them, thus art cafés were born. And Negative Space Café is one of them.
In a quiet little place in Maginhawa Street in Quezon City, Negative Space Café provides not only good food but also a space for artists. It was conceptualized to be “a place for everyone to be creative, a place where they can collaborate and do their work.” Its interiors are even custom-built for artists. There are lightboxes built into each table and it also has an easel wall.
But what makes the place extra special is that it also offers different workshops to its customers. “We offer workshops to promote creativity and a chance for non-artists to dabble and maybe even ignite a passion they didn’t know they have yet,” Negative Space Café told BusinessWorld in an e-mail. “It’s also for people who want to hone their skills even further,” they added.
Though the café specializes in silk screening, drawings and paintings, according to their Facebook page,it has already done several workshops that included watercolor painting, cutting and printing art workshop, and paper flower making, among others. “We have a variety of workshops. We also host other artists’ workshops and events,” the owners explained. In fact, the art café has another workshop lined up this July 15 titled Lino Print Making Workshop. There are also art materials and pens that customers can borrow while enjoying their food.
When asked about the inspiration behind Negative Space Café, which started operations a year ago, the owners said: “We noticed that there’s a lack of places dedicated to art- ists in the metro, and knowing just how much space one sometimes need to have an effective working environment, we came up with our concept.”
When it comes to food, the art café menu consists of light snacks, heavy meals, coffee, and alcoholic beverages.
“There’s a drink for anyone,” they noted. Their best-seller for drinks are the specialty coffees and their coffee- based cocktails. Italian sodas are also must-haves.
They also serve Japanese food. Their pancake balls as well as their takoyaki have been popular among patrons, which are mostly “uni kids and yuppies.”
For full meals, best-sellers are the Japanese curry cheese bake and the donburi bowls. And due to popular demand, the owners are bringing back their ice cream sandwich starting July 14. “We make our own ice cream. We even have beer ice cream,” they remarked.
Apart from all the workshops and good food, the art café is also a pet-friendly restaurant. The owners’ dogs, the Akitas, are even as popular as the café itself.
Like any other new enterprise, Negative Space Café is still learning and in the process of mastering the business. “We adapt depending on what our customers need. We want to pride ourselves as customer-centric,” it stated.
As more people become aware of the place, Negative Space Café “hopes to be a big name in the coffee scene and art venues.” But more than the expansion that they also aim, they hope they can “reach and inspire more people.”
Negative Space Café is located at 2-B, 80 Maginhawa Street, Teacher’s Village East, Quezon City. It is open from Sundays to Tuesdays, 12: 00 p. m. to 10 p. m. —