Calling all craft and anik-anik lovers—This & That PH has everything you need to make your life cheery and colorful.
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These days, we can’t go a few feet wherever we are without seeing something hanging off someone’s bag or belt loop. Whether it’s a keychain, a toy, or a collectible, anik-anik has become a style staple even more so these days. Curating and customizing your anik-anik makes for a more personable expression of self, and local brands like This & That PH actively encourage showcasing your creativity and personality through the little things.
This & That PH has been a staple in NYLON Manila events recently, at our Girlhood MyZine Meetup and the NYLON Manila Career Fair. Katrine Joyce Go started the lifestyle and stationery brand in 2023, focusing on notebooks and mugs and tumblers (customizable, of course). She has since expanded to include in the curation fun stuffed toy collectibles, pouches, and their famed bag tags—again, all customizable!
These products are available on their website, at the SM Fairview Department Store Stationery Department, and at events that they want to do more frequently. This & That PH offers event set-ups for everything from birthdays to brand events—just reach out on their Instagram! You could have your own custom bag tag pop-up at your events or parties, letting your guests come home with the cutest little token of their own.
Katrine started in advertising, and her job at a marketing consultancy was her home for eight years. She has since left her full-time job to become a freelance marketer and dedicate more of her time and energy towards This & That. Get to know a little more about the lifestyle and stationery brand straight from its founder right here.
ALL THAT AND MORE WITH KATRINE JOYCE GO
How did This & That start and what’s your role?
Currently, my role is medyo all-around. I handle everything for now until we get to expand. I started This & That in 2023, around February. It actually started as a stationery brand, more about notebooks, mugs, and tumblers. And then when anik-anik was growing in popularity, I started to transition a bit more towards trendy items.
Have you always loved and collected stationery?
Ever since I was young, I was already a hoarder of stationary. I had a lot of notebooks, stickers, pens—yung mga ganon na hindi naman nagagamit lahat, actually! But they’re cute to collect kasi, especially if they’re nice talaga. So before, ako yung nabubudol, ngayon, ako yung nambubudol!
What inspires you to choose what kind of items to include in the This & That curation, for instance the bag tags?
At first talaga, it was more of like my personal picks, like okay, what do I usually use in the office? At work? Kaya at first we started with mugs, stationery, yung ganon. But during this time naman, I lean more towards what’s trending and also I ask myself, if I were the market, ano yung bibilhin ko? Ano yung gusto ko?
How do you feel about the resurging popularity of anik-anik in today’s culture?
What I’ve observed with the market or the people is that they’re more expressive. For example, the Labubu craze—siguro five, ten years ago, people will think it’s weird. But since the market, especially Gen Z, they’re more expressive. Wala na sila sa phase na nahihiya sila. They no longer have a mindset [limited to] stereotypes.
What do you think is the importance of encouraging and cultivating creativity and letting others heal their inner child with anik-anik?
I think it’s a good thing that Gen Z is more expressive talaga. It’s a positive thing din in a way na they get to express who they are, what they love, what they like. For instance, yung mga bag tags or key loops, even though they’re sometimes a minimalist person, they still get to express themselves in terms of being minimalist. And for some, they’re very maximalist naman. So yung mga key loops, punong-puno ng charms, yung gano’n. It’s such a nice thing to see the differences between them.
What are some things that you want to see the brand grow into in the next few years?
In the next few years, siguro aside from more outlets or more sales channels like for the kiosk nga and then, hopefully This & That can start a trend, like with the bag tags! Currently, nasa phase kami na “this is the trend, we have to catch up with the trends,” but hopefully we can create our own [trend]!
Is there anything that you would like to say to people who want to follow the same path you did? To pursue their creative dreams but also to make a living out of it?
If I have advice for them, it’s that they shouldn’t be afraid to try and also not to give up easily—because it’s really not easy at first. Well, until now, it isn’t easy! But it’s better to start now than to regret something and say ‘sayang, hindi ko na-try.’ [It’s good to] fail faster!
Interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Photos by Gelo Quijencio, Kieran Punay, Kim Angela Santos, and Excel Panlaque.
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