www.mananandata.org - The Official Site of Mananandata Dedicated to the Art of Filipino Ilustrisimo Escrima

www.mananandata.org - The Official Site of Mananandata Dedicated to the Art of Filipino Ilustrisimo Escrima

Shared via AddThis

Philippine National Treasures need not be romanticized

It was almost a year since the permanent exhibit of Gold of Ancestors had opened. I have been meaning to go ever since.

I saw the tv feature, Gintong Pamana, on abs-cbn. I can vaguely remember a resource interviewee saying "we have been searching for what is the Filipino identity... this is it."

What?! I was expecting they could enlighten us by sharing some archaeology-related insights. I think they should not gear towards deifying the objects.

Shouldn't there be a technical-yet-narrative documentary for these treasures? Reconstruction could do a lot to uncover things. Archaeologists, artisans, designers, lateros, engineers and anthropologists should jump in.

What kind of tools, materials and equipment were available to our ancestors during those times? How did they develop techniques out of these resources? What are the typical professions (artisans, craftsmen, alchemists) during those times? Why were they making such exquisite designs? What were they really for?

Well, this might be going too far... wishful thinking. I should just accept the verdict that we will never get past viewing national treasures as static objects on a pedestal.

More than the oooohs and the aaaahhs, we need the whys, hows, whats, whos.

Clippings: Welcome to Eairth by stylebible.ph

Melissa Dizon:

“It started from a road trip with my aunt and uncle searching for Filipino waves. It took us from Manila to the farthest north in Pagudpod and back down through Ilocos, combined with that pellucid morning when I ran into the Mangyan village in Mindoro. I came across a tribal girl in a destroyed ACDC tee shirt atop a Mangyan peasant skirt and a bolo strung on a cord around a tiny waist. It changed the course of my life and I decided then that there was something beautiful and pure about the most primal when it is effortlessly mixed with the hyper future. I decided then with the help of my aunt and uncle to embark on a journey to integrate our rich primitive resources with the abstract modernity we know.”

Posted on http://www.stylebible.ph/article.php?id=391

Clippings: Water hyacinth would be a natural fiber source by fibre2fashion.com

Posted on http://www.fibre2fashion.com/news/textile-news/newsdetails.aspx?News_id=76668

on Sept. 1, 2009

The stalks of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) are a viable natural source of alternative textile material, according to the Philippine Department of Science and Technology’s Philippine Textile Research Institute (PTRI). Researchers at PTRI are studying water hyacinth fibers as raw material for the manufacture of clothing and home fabrics. Processing the fibers with polyester staples initially produced blended yarns with 20–35 percent water hyacinth component. The stalks went through a series of chemical and mechanical treatment to achieve the crimp property of wool for better processing, reduce the plant’s glue-like or gum content, and soften the fibers to make them fine and fit for knitting and weaving into apparel and other home textiles. For a yarn count of 15 Ne suitable for apparels, blends of 80/20 and 65/35 of polyester/water hyacinth fibers were used. The same blends of polyester/water hyacinth fibers were used to get a yarn count of 10–12 Ne ideal for home textiles such as curtains, upholstery, table runners, napkins, bed cover, pillow case, and other items found at home. In the Philippines, the proliferation of water hyacinth, an invasive aquatic nuisance, in freshwater bodies such as lakes and ponds has led the researchers to study the plant’s effective uses as a natural wastewater purifier and an indicator of the level of pollution in the water besides a natural source of fiber.

Philippine Textile Research Institute

Clippings: Fruit of the Loom, Preview Nov 2007 Pia Rojas

Pina, which has a shiny, semi-transparent quality, is already often used i the national men's dress shirt, the Barong Tagalog, and of course, wedding gowns. Spearheaded by the Rurungan sa Tubod Foundation, the combination of silk and pineapple fiber (pina silk) is now being marketed under the brand name Tepina. This textile is made of 50 percent silk while the other half is made of tough, translucent fiber of pineapple plant, known locally as pina. It is lightweight, all-natural, and also noted for its tensile strength as well as for its appropriateness to the tropical climate of the Philippines.

A homespun fabric with a transparent finesse, Tepina's gossamer look and feel is achieved by using silk as wrap (the vertical weave) and pineapple fibers as the weft (the horizontal weave). This combination gives the brilliancy and strength of silk, while maintaining translucency, rigidity of pina. Naturally, Tepina maintains an off-white hue. When dyed, this lustrous fabric shines with color. The fabric may also be embroidered with unique designs.

The entire process of making Tepina is hand-made, from the gathering of pina fibers to the weaving. The fibers are selected individually then knotted, making sure that each filament is the right size and shade.

Tepina utilizes The Rurungan sa Tubod Foundation's training program on extraction, processing, knotting, warping and weaving of pina and other endemic fibers like abaca, pandan, rattan and many others, into fine clothing and home accessories. Based in Puerto Prinsesa City, in the island of Palawan, the foundation may seem worlds away from the country's fashion center of Manila, much less Paris or Milan, but it's working tirelessly and has found much support from artists--writers, photographers, and designers Rajo Laurel, Iverluski, Aseron, Puey Quinones, Patty Eustaquio, and Patrice Ramos-Diaz to name a few--who have singed on to help promote the brand. "There's a certain satisfaction you get from using Tepina because you know you're helping a community of women, who are the weavers, aside from using an indigenous fabric," explains designer Patty Estaquio, President of the Young Designerss Guild. "Plus, there's a dye to match the specific needs of a client, a service not available with other fabrics."
"The art of the Philippine weaving is slowly disappearing," laments noted designer Rajo Laurel, "but with the advent of Tepina, we see a growth and the evolution of Philippine textile. It's exciting and inspiring to be part of something totally Filipino. Poets use words, painters use paint. I use fabric as my medium, and with this textile, I'm able to express myself eloquently."

In today's environmentally and socially conscious world, Tepina's hand-women, all-natural pineapple fiber fabric should find resonance with stylish visionaries who want to go green and be ethically fashionable. It's sustainable luxury for those who take pride in clothes made from local materials and designs.

Tepina apparel and Barong Tagalog, accessories (bags, shawls, neckties), and accessories for the home (table runners, screens, pillows, placemats) are available at their Pasay showroom. Tepina fabrics are sold per meter. The width of the fabric is limited to the hand span on the loom with a maximum width of 30 inches, though it can also be woven into a narrower width by special request. The plain woven Tepina fabric is pegged at P600 to P1400 per meter. Tepina weaves with design on warp, straight insertions, or with gaps range from P650 to P1000 per meter. Textured Tepina with patterned insertion ad scattered Suksuk retails between P700 to P1300. Textured shawls costs P900 to P1650, while ties costs P1300.

The Tepina showroom is located a 2635 Taft Avenue extension, Pasay City. Tel. No. 831 9816

the sensuality and virility of Philippine folk dances

Tinikling requires agility and virility of both female and male dancers. One can only imagine how those well-toned, brown bodied lasses jump their way over the bamboo trappings in syncopated rhythm, their nubile chests rise and fall in beat, while their male partners and onlookers catch brief glimpses of their supple calves.

I may become overly ambitious to stage such concept production. But thoughts about what Philippine dances could be like minus the Catholic-colonization sense of decorum is a very potent temptation. After all, sex sells. If you seriously believe that the future of Philippine dance industry (or hardly an industry) lies in the hands of CCP theater goers in formal wear and SUVs, then expect that in 10 years time we will have show dancing as one of Visita Iglesia attractions. Yes, I know that it is too Miss-Tapia-starchy stiff as a future trend. If anything, one should take a 360 on what the drag dancers dance makers are doing for fiesta dance parade tourist attractions. That one has potential of sustaining itself, and don't you even start on giving me the lowdown about the lowbrow and highbrow art.

Better yet, one of the local indie film producers could make a short film series out of this. As I believe, historical pictures need not be asexual and ailing. I imagine it to mostly have physical acting as brilliant as Apocalypto.

Tuba plantation in Quezon is a spectacle. I've come to realize that much of our production skills require nimble feet. And yes, Filipinos are never flat-footed. I wonder if this trait has anything to do why we are head-over-heels in love with basketball and boxing.

One other thing, we also have a fondness for playthings. Yes, playthings, not the bedtime props playthings (that's going to be another article that I will write) but impromptu playthings. Resourcefulness and playfulness combined, we are the masters of movement improvisation indeed. Tinikling, singkil, sayaw sa bangko, patpat, pandango sa ilaw, binasuan, and not to mention our own version of krumping, maglalatik, these dances not only show off attitude and highly-skilled exhibitionism but also, and not surprisingly, rhythmic musicality. The use of found objects in these dances doesn't only provide us with complex movement improvisation but also nourishes our minds with rich auditory treats. Creative movement proponents should take note of this. One very promising choreographer is attentive enough to pick this up as a source of inspiration, Raul Alcoseba of Chameleon Dance Theatre used plastic sando bags and newspapers in one of his dance pieces.

Tittering bare feet against the dirt, smiles and notions of festivities. That is what folk dancing is like. Dum dum tak in mid tempo of rondalla promotes ease in fluid movements albeit on toes. Interesting. I might have seen remnants of this folk dance default in one of the town fiesta's pasayaw as some of the Tatangs and Manangs brung it on. When projecting folksy ambiance, a stiff back, clenched stomach, and haughty chin are big no-nos. Well, except of course if it is the singkil but even so, stiff back and clenched stomach for a Lakambini is not so princess-like. In general, Filipina maidens dance off-centered, almost entirely relying upon their nimble feet to keep their balingkinitan bodies upright while in motion.

Which reminds me how I almost not survive walking on Quezon red-earth mud because I've been stubbornly using my urban legs. Walking the grimy asphalt streets of Manila condones motion on the hips while stomping hard enough on the pavement to shake a few dangles and accoutrements on your clothes ala catwalk biatch, and sometimes slightly bending your knees to set off a bouncy and cheeky walk ala Travolta in Staying Alive. But if you ever use this strut in mid-September Quezon claypot mud, you're dead. Ball to toes weightshifting is going to be futile. The trick is to distribute weight on sole as evenly as possible and walk as quick and lightly as possible as if you're stepping on burning coals.

Similarly, walking your streetwise strut on rocky downhills will send you off the cliff. The trick here is to bend your knees to absorb the shocks kinda like skiing, keep your legs apart and put the weight on the outer edges of your feet. No wonder mountain feet look like giant cashew nuts. And if ever you find yourself walking downhill on desert sand dunes, apply the same steps but this time put your weight on your heels to prevent you from skidding on sand.