Traveling with Pinoy Pride: A Blog Giveaway
When traveling, you are not your name. You are your country.
I’ve had countless encounters with fellow travelers or locals while on my 2.5-month solo trip around Asia, wherein they ask me where I’m from (and I do likewise), we engage in a brief conversation, and part ways without ever knowing each other’s actual names. We then resort to referring to each other as the Dutch couple I met in Laos, or the Filipina that I met in Sri Lanka, or the tuk-tuk driver in Battambang, Cambodia. And that is the truth of some single-serving friends you meet while traveling.
As such, I feel that whenever we travel or interact with foreigners in our own country, we are really ambassadors for our country.
Insights from a Crash Course on the Philippine Textile Industry
September 25, 2012
Department of Clothing, Textile, and Interior Design - College of Home Economics
University of the Philippines, Diliman
Not very many people know much about the Philippine Textile Industry, primarily because 1) it’s not within their field and therefore don’t really seek to know more about it, or 2) it IS within their field but it seems too work-intensive/costly to get into. However, I believe that the status of the Philippine Textile Industry should be a concern for every Filipino.
Thanks to my good friend Kitty, who teaches Clothing Technology at UP, and knows of my interest in the subject (see my posts on weaving/textile) and my desire to really generating more awareness of our textile traditions after my visit to Ock Pop Tok in Laos, I had the privilege of attending the Scanning Philippine Indigenous Textiles forum. For me, it only further validated my belief that every Filipino should know more about it.
Let me share some of the highlights.
![My Free Silk-Weaving Workshop Tour: Artisans d’Angkor - Take 2July 16 - Siem Reap, Cambodia
Some say the best things in life are free, while cynics say there’s no such thing as a free lunch. As cynical as I am, I am also one of the world’s greatest cheapskates, which is why I try to seize as many free (and interesting) opportunities as I can.
[[MORE]]
I found out about this tour when I dropped by Artisans d’Angkor on my first day in Siem Reap, and promised myself that I would schedule a trip as soon as I got back from the Hariharalaya Retreat Centre.
Let me break it down in a simple formula as to why this is so appealing to me:
Weaving / textiles + Free of charge = My kind of thing
Joining the tour
A free shuttle bus takes you at 9:30am (or 1:00pm) from the Artisans d’Angkor main showroom to their silk-weaving workshop maybe 20-30 minutes from the old market (I didn’t keep track of the time).
At the silk-weaving workshop, a friendly tour guide will walk you through their process of silk production to weaving to showcasing.
Learning the process
First, the guide shows us the silk worms (picture not included), and their cocoons, which make up the raw (outer layer) and fine (inner layer) silk threads.
The guide also shared that it takes 3,000 cocoons (or 3,000 silk worms - you need to kill the worm inside the cocoon to use the cocoon) to make 1 silk scarf.
Now, I’m if that new knowledge makes me averse to silk now because of my vegan tendencies (note, not state), or because this makes it so much clearer, so much real-er that that luxurious fabric is, well, worms. I’ve known that silk is derived from worms, but it’s different when you see the process.
Anyway, next, after the cocoons have been harvested and “cooked”, the thread is dyed and wound into spools.
Thread is then taken from the spools and wound around the sticks for the loom “boats” according to a specific order and color (to achieve the fabric patterns).
From there, the sticks of thread are masterfully glided across the loom, to create rolls of beautifully patterned textiles. I forgot how long it takes to do this, but I remember thinking it was a veeeery long time, and realizing why silk can be so expensive.
[With Hanne outside the weaving room, with a big grin for the free tour]
We weren’t allowed to take photos of the real showroom (which showcases a lot classier and more wearable silk garments than the first Lady Gaga-esque photo in this post), so you’ll have to visit it yourself.
I appreciate that they showed us the entire process, which was probably really meant to make us realize the value of the work and the high price it warranted. But again, being a cheapskate (and now a bit grossed out by all the worminess), I didn’t purchase anything, but it did make me think of the process and working conditions in places that produce the significantly cheaper silk scarves available in the old market.
Fair trade is not just for hipsters,Jen
Follow my tweets • Find me on Facebook • Sign up for my newsletter • E-mail me
Artisans d’AngkorChantiers-Ecoles (main branch)Stung Thmey StreetSiem Reap, Cambodiainfos@artisansdangkor.comwww.artisansdangkor.com](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m80s9yJQlr1r0u81eo1_1280.jpg)
My Free Silk-Weaving Workshop Tour: Artisans d’Angkor - Take 2
July 16 - Siem Reap, Cambodia
Some say the best things in life are free, while cynics say there’s no such thing as a free lunch. As cynical as I am, I am also one of the world’s greatest cheapskates, which is why I try to seize as many free (and interesting) opportunities as I can.
![Easter Weaving, Baguio: Keeping tradition alive, non-traditionally
I’ve always been a fan of tribal prints and ethnic-looking things, yes even before they came into fashion, as evidenced by several bags and articles of clothing in my closet, and my Navajo camera strap design for Punchdrunk Panda, so naturally, I was like a kid who had stepped into Willy Wonka’s factory when I set foot in Easter Weaving’s Showroom.
You could opt to purchase rolls of fabric, which initially, at around P400/meter for a 30”-wide roll sounds steep. However, upon seeing the process behind the creation of the material (which I hope to share with you guys in a video), and the beauty of the patterns, I realize it is justifiably “pricey” after all. See some of the drool-worthy textiles below:
[[MORE]]
You can also opt to support their craft by purchasing from their wide array of products including bags, purses, shoes, sandals, headbands, clothing, linens, tapestries and more.
I find that I’m quite the bag lady. Not quite the designer bag lover (though I’ve gotten quite a bit of attention whenever I bring around my mother’s red vintage epi leather Louis Vuitton satchel), but I noticed an affluence of amorphous textile bags. So it was only natural that I fall in love with this bag:
After spending on all my Baguio eats and recent e-ticket bookings, I decided I couldn’t, and essentially didn’t need to spend some P1450 on another bag. That may seem pricey to some people for a textile bag, but it was really beautiful and really worth every peso when you see how painstaking it looks to weave that pattern.
But I wanted to do my tiny bit to help support their industry, have a piece of their art to take home with me, and have something to put on my head for a semblance of style since I’ve been too lazy to put any sort of product on my short, short hair recently, so I decided to purchase a couple of their headbands.
Easter Weaving’s patterns are taken from different places in the Cordilleras including Abra, Apayao, Bontoc, Ibaloi, Ifugao, Kalinga, and Kankana-ey (Abra, Bontoc and Kalinga are my favorites), and I’m glad that their tradition is being kept alive, even if reapplied in non-traditional formats (like blazers, etc). I guess you can say I sort of see a similarity with Punchdrunk Panda’s PdP-losophy here. :)
So, the next time you’re in the City of Pines, remember there’s more than just Camp John Hay, Mines View and Good Shepherd. Drop by the Easter Weaving Room, support our Cordilleras’ beautiful textile traditions, and bring home more than just brooms and strawberry jam. Huzzah!
Weave love,Jen
Twitter | Facebook | Vimeo | E-mail
Easter Weaving Room, Inc.Easter Road, Guisad 22600 Baguio City, Philippines+63 74 442 4972](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4dnloUESj1r0u81eo1_1280.jpg)
Easter Weaving, Baguio: Keeping tradition alive, non-traditionally
I’ve always been a fan of tribal prints and ethnic-looking things, yes even before they came into fashion, as evidenced by several bags and articles of clothing in my closet, and my Navajo camera strap design for Punchdrunk Panda, so naturally, I was like a kid who had stepped into Willy Wonka’s factory when I set foot in Easter Weaving’s Showroom.
You could opt to purchase rolls of fabric, which initially, at around P400/meter for a 30”-wide roll sounds steep. However, upon seeing the process behind the creation of the material (which I hope to share with you guys in a video), and the beauty of the patterns, I realize it is justifiably “pricey” after all. See some of the drool-worthy textiles below:
Vincent Moon: La Blogotheque’s Take Away Shows
I first encountered the Take Away Shows a few years ago when my friend Jane forwarded me the video of Phoenix’s. Not sure if it was 1901 or Lisztomania, but either way, I thought it was really fun and I wished I could find such bands randomly performing on the streets of Manila too. :P
I also love the rawness of the film and how it was able to capture the emotion of the moment, without necessarily being too concerned about the pursuit of aesthetic perfection.
While bands like Phoenix, Bon Iver, The National, Sigur Ros or Arcade Fire won’t have pop-up gigs here anytime soon, Vincent Moon, the filmmaker behind these Take Away Shows will be in the Philippines for 3 weeks to film, explore and discover the Philippine music scene/culture, all genres of it, from indigenous music to contemporary gig music.
On Feb. 23, Vincent will be holding a screening at Big Bad Wolf in Taguig City, Philippines.
He will be showcasing mostly new works, “shot from Brazil to Indonesia, from Colombia to Singapore, from an old ritual to a new one, from traditional untouched music to new experiments in local folklores”.
