Lino Dalay did not have a clear business plan when he started setting up shop almost a decade ago on a narrow street in Paete, Laguna, the country's wood carving capital.

What he had, however, were the stuff and the skills to sell: tons of used movie props and sets accumulated from over 18 years as a production designer for big local films like Lola Basyang, Stupid Cupid, and Halimaw sa Banga, and even the Tom Cruise-starrer Born on the Fourth of July that had location shoots in Vigan, Ilocos Sur.