One is not called The Filipino Picker for nothing. So meet the modern age, millennial version of magbobote named Kyle Gianan.
As the Filipino Picker, Kyle has been featured on several international and local TV shows, serving as an antique consultant for "Kapuso Mo Jessica Soho" where he gained popularity as a resident “tagasuri” whenever there are episodes involving antiques, specially for bottles. He was chosen for CNN’s Story of the Filipino and had a stint with History channel as he went picking all over Mandaluyong and Makati with Jaime Dempsey.
In August 2018, History Channel announced on their page that Kyle is the official Filipino Picker. At the age of 38 he was one of the youngest to ever pick at this level. According to Kyle, picking in the Philippines has grown rapidly in the past few years. Thanks to TV shows like American Pickers, Storage Wars and Pawnstars.
A graduate of Business Management in De La Salle University , Kyle took the unpopular road of collecting antiques. He spends time travelling to provinces , going from house to house looking for hidden treasures, even acquiring items online and in auctions.
Focusing mainly on rare antique and vintage bottles, he has an entire wall full of old Filipino-crafted bottles on display at his Museo ng Kahapon situated at Boni Ave Mandaluyong. His passion for collecting bottles started when he laid his hands on an 80s Magnolia bottle. “The feeling of nostalgia was unexplainable,” he said. "The adrenaline rush when you suddenly recall your mom opening you a fresh bottle of milk chocolate before going to school is simply priceless."
His bottle collection includes the Halili bottle, perhaps the most popular and one of the most in-demand bottles for collectors. It was owned by the late Governor Fortunato Halili and recently acquired by a private collector at over P30,000.
There's also the Tansan bottle believed to be the first “crown capped” bottle introduced in the Philippines where we got the term “ Tansan”. It was introduced by Clifford Wilkinson in the early 1900s.
Then Kyle’s Museo ng Kahapon holds several Royal bottles such as the rare Royal Amber, Royal bowling pin green and clear, Tru Lemon, Ginger Ale, Lem-O-Lime, Soda, Tonic Water and later versions like the Royal Tru Orange made famous by the late King of Rap Francis Magalona with the slogan “ Ito ang Gusto Ko.”
“Basta hinawakan ni Kuya Kiko, mahal ko yan," Kyle, also known as Krazykyle in the rap industry, noted. He was one of Francis M’s project rappers in the early 2000s. The late master rapper directed Kyle’s very first music video "The Answer."
Kyle is also the mastermind behind the Facebook group Mga Lumang Bote which features the top and most active young bottle collectors in the Philippines and serves as a marketplace for sellers and buyers of antique bottles. It exploded to 11k members in just a year. A book about Philippine bottles is scheduled to be released this year called "MaBOTEng Usapan," co - written by Kyle himself together with award winning historian Jaime Salvador Corpuz.
For the Filipino Picker, it won't hurt to have a local TV show about antiques.