One of the boutiques located inside Intramuros’ Plaza San Luis is The Paper Tolé Shop; occupying a small niche near Barbara’s Café. But don’t underestimate its petite size though as this store packs a mean punch when it comes  to knick knacks and whatnots. The store is literally overflowing with all sorts of curious stuff to browse through.

The Paper Tolé Shop is the perfect place to shop if you’re looking for a unique souvenir from Manila. Philippine postcards, quirky toys, hand-woven paper bags, intricate woodcarved statues, weird masks, old photographs, figurines of all sizes and of various makes, Japanese origamis, handmade soaps, dolls of all sizes, quirky notebooks, charms, distinctive DIY papers and my favorite, ref magnets.

And there is of course their hand drawn paper tolé’s which depict colonial times in Manila. Paper tolé is a papercraft technique wherein multiple pieces of a drawing or a photograph are cut and layered out on a frame in such a way that a viewer sees them as a three-dimensional object.

One of my favorite in their collection is the Spanish era San Sebastian Cathedral scene. Manila looked so elegant back then with grand colonial houses lining the streets, horse-drawn carriages parading down its avenues. And of course there were no electric poles and messy wires back then to spoil the scene.

With such limited store space, it amazed me how long we stayed there without even seeing everything the shop has to offer. The place is a real treasure trove of wonders; collectors and flea market junkies would definitely have a field day inside Plaza San Luis’ Paper Tolé Shop.
 

The Papier Tolé Shop
Plaza San Luis Complex
Gen. Luna corner Urdaneta Street
Intramuros, Manila