We're often asked what papemelroti means. 
It is actually the combination of the first syllables of five names - Patsy, Peggy,
Meldy, Robert, and Tina.
They are the children of Benny and Corit Alejandro, who started the papemelroti
business. Papemelroti is a specialty shop which carries a wide variety of
gifts and decorative accessories. Papemelroti’s history began in November,
1968, when Benny and Corit opened a small 
gift shop along Tomas Morato Ave. (Manila,
Philippines). Korben Gifts, as it was called, started out as a hobby, with Corit
making stuffed toys and doll’s dresses and Benny supervising the furniture making.
Even before that, Corit was already sewing dresses for her daughters, making stuffed
toys from cloth scraps, and play food from felt for her children to play with.
Benny’s hobby
was
woodworking and he made furniture for their home, and a playhouse from a wooden crate for
the children. Soon their children were making their own paper dolls, decorating box
dollhouses with clippings from old catalogs, drawing and doing other crafts. From this
background, it was natural for the children to help out in the family business, starting
with painting figurines, and hammering wooden plaques to give them a distinctive
"antique" look.
In 1976, the family planned to open a new shop in Ali Mall, Cubao. Since Korben came
from a combination of Corit’s & Benny’s names, it became a family joke to
name the new shop after the 5 
Alejandro siblings - Patsy, Peggy, Meldy, Robert
and Tina. When they couldn’t think of a better name, they finally decided to
give the shop the tongue twister name - papemelroti. From the start, when that
first shop opened during the summer vacation, all five siblings helped out in the business
Today, papemelroti has evolved into a chain of gift shops that has touched
countless lives through it’s unique product lines. Patsy,
Peggy, Meldy, Robert and Tina continue to design products
for papemelroti. They aim to design products that help encourage, uplift, and
inspire as well as bring warmth and beauty to homes. Their products reflect values and
themes which are important to their family - a commitment to and love of God, family,
home, country and the environment. Through years of designing, manufacturing and
retailing, papemelroti has become a popular name in the Philippines’ gift and
decorative accessories industry.
For more details of papemelroti's story in Patsy's own words, click here. To read up on the news articles written about
Papemelroti, click here.
To read up on Papemelroti's newest venture, click here for info on
Books for Less Bargain Bookstore!
Please sign our
Guestbook,
we'd love to hear from you!
[ our designers ] [ our mission ] [ news articles ] [ patsy's talk ] [ journals ]
[ Home ] [ gift suggestions ] [ what's a papemelroti? ] [ whats new ] [ privilege cards ] [ wholesale gifts ] [ our branches ] [ search ] [ order ] [ books for less ] [ korben place ] [ our products ] [ free graphics! ] [ links ] [ site map ]
Back to top
