THE WORLD IN FOUR CORNERS

Within the walls of Spruce Gallery, the world is confined to hundreds of titles it houses-waiting to be explored, cherished, and, above all, celebrated

- LAURD SALEN

Ever dreamt of reading your way through the rarest, most peculiar titles the world has to offer? From Apartamento, Popeye, and Kinfolk to Monocle, The Gentlewoman, and queer zines Boys! Boys! Boys! and Butt, Spruce Gallery brings cult and indie favorites to your fingertips without the hefty price tags-rewriting the narrative of print accessibility in the country.

As we stepped into the hallowed confines of Spruce Gallery, the heady embrace of print greeted us. The air was laced with the nostalgic perfume of paper, an olfactory prelude to the wonders hidden within the walls of this quaint store. The warm welcome from founders Ric Gindap and Bonnapart Galeng transformed our visit into an intimate exploration of their print paradise.

At the center of the curated chaos lay two eye-catching publications, their covers adorned with actual blocks of instant noodles. Gindap's grin revealed the tale behind these titles-copies of Sankaku's Ramen Issue, acquired during its launch at SentoSensations 2023 in Denki-yu, a century-old public bathhouse in Sumida, Tokyo. This quirky discovery, he says, sums up the essence of Spruce Gallery a celebration of the obscure, the indie, and the sheer effort invested in curating the titles housed within its roof.

PAPER DREAMS

The physicality of print, the palpable sensation of flipping through pages, is the driving force behind Spruce Gallery, according to creatives Gindap and Galeng.

Gindap says, "Precisely because everyone is a digital native nowadays, there's a counter-revolution happening. There's now a collective yearning for something more tangible that we can hold, something that we can revisit."