Rebuild Bad Student Press!

We had a single room on the second floor that we thought we could take refuge in. After hours of moving our stuff to the second floor to save it from the flood, we didn’t realize that the second floor didn’t have a fire exit. 

We soon realized that we were trapped in our studio and we badly needed a rescue team to save us. After multiple failed attempts of trying to contact the emergency hotline of Marikina City, we realized that we had to take matters in our own hands. We gathered our essential belongings , braced ourselves and attempted to swim towards the main road. The flood outside our studio was deeper than we thought. Our feet could barely even touch the street floor! We held on to our neighbors’ fences to stay afloat and prayed to God that we escape the flood alive. We swam as fast as we could because the rain was becoming stronger every minute. We could actually feel the flood rising to the point that our whole heads were becoming submerged. After 30 minutes of traversing our flooded street, we got to the main highway safely and sought refuge in an open building.

After surviving the flood, it quickly dawned on us that we lost our business, our studio, and our home. We were preparing for Tokyo Art Book Fair on November 16, to represent filipino artists internationally, but our riso machine, our riso drums, our studio computers, our binding equipments, inks and papers —were all gone. We weren’t able to save any of our equipments. We may have been alive and safe but we couldn’t help but question, how can we continue living after this? Our livelihood was wiped out right before our eyes. The amount of damages to our equipments, especially our Riso Machine amounts to $5,000 alone, with the the studio computers, riso drums, inks, papers and other equipments, the total would be $13,000. But right now, even just to fix or repair the machine would be a tremendous help and solution already for us to continue printing. 

When we were finally able to check the internet, we were surprised and flooded with prayers, words of encouragement and support from friends, colleagues, clients, past students, and even strangers! All telling us to not lose hope and have courage to rebuild Bad Student Press once more, as one of the first Risograph printing studio in the Philippines.

As we left our studio behind, we honestly thought that all of our investments from the past 3 years were lost. But now, it is made clear to us that we didn’t lose anything. Our investment is not in our machines or equipments, but in each and everyone of you whom we had the absolute pleasure of sharing the art of Risograph printing with. A Riso Community in the Philippines that started with just the two of us, to now hundreds of artists from across the country!

We always say that our ultimate goal was to share Risograph to as many filipino artists as possible and to support the local printmaking community through Riso. To you who supported us and wants to give us a second life, please take comfort in knowing that it will be our life’s mission to give back to the Filipino Art Community in the best way we know how: Keeping Risograph Printing ALIVE 

Maraming maraming salamat sa umaapaw ninyong tulong at suporta! Ibabalik namin ang inyong tiwala at pagmamahal ng lubos-lubos!

For Philippine donations:

BPI
Bank account number: 4179476113
Pauline S. Tiu

GCASH

09569027713
Jasmin Gonzales

09293005993
Pauline S. Tiu

09158465513
Gino Bueza

For international donations:

Paypal: [email redacted] / @badstudentpress

Venmo @ftolentino

DIGITAL ZINE:

Please provide your email at the comment section below after donating so we can send you a copy of digital zine to your email address compiled by filipino illustrators in support of rebuilding Bad Student Press. The digital zine is set be sent on December 3, 2020.

Again, thank you so much for all the love and support. ❤️

Staying afloat,

Pau Tiu & Dyam Gonzales

Bad Student Press