I remember once my husband told me, to earn and provide for your family, geography does not matter. He said wherever you as long as you put dedication to work, persevere, have patience and carry yourself with integrity; you will earn enough to provide for your family. And at times it will surprise you that you can splurge a little for your family as well.
A couple of years back, I get to witness such sentiment from my husband. I met Vicente, who was a child of a family who in their daily perseverance, him and his brother Arnold, were able to finish school through their parent’s skills and talent in making figurines.
For the last 25 years, Vicente Minerva Sr. and his wife Rosemarie, dedicated themselves to this business in making figurines and they were able to see their family through every day and have their children finish school and the brothers themselves became skilled artists in making figurines.
I remembered in one of our Christmas get together party, he had the most unique exchange gift, because it was a figurine he made for the occasion. That time, I said, here is somebody whose family through sheer talent and skill was able to live and earn. I thought that they were an inspiration to other families as well.
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Their figurines are made of Plaster of Paris, water and cement. A figurine would take three days to finish. Of course if it’s in bulk there’s a different timeline depending on the quantity ordered from them. Their price ranges are very affordable! Small figurine cost only P50.00, big figurines at P100.00 and some figurines would also cost P200 due to its size. They have many collections of designs that they can show their customer and can accommodate maximum of 500 figurines.
They produce their figurines on a daily basis. What is being ordered for the day that is what they will only produce for the day. I think it makes sense to me, because, with that kind of system they can produce better quality figurines that are not made in hurry and finished products are beautifully made!
Now we know where we can go to if we need figurines as token for our occasions, for our home décor or to decorate our restaurants or to give as a gift! Not only we get customize designs for the figurines that we want to buy, but we will be helping out Vicente Sr.’s family earn their daily living.
You would always hear from an artist that when work becomes art it would not be work anymore. It would be a work of art where they put their talent and skills and they are able to share it to others.
You may contact Vicente Minerva Sr. through his mobile number: 0929 859 7203. Their work shop is located at Purok Lison, Barangay 1, Bacolod City.