Transforming a story of loss to something that keeps on giving
The moment I set foot in Tam-An Village of Ifugao Province, the characters in my bedtime stories came to life. Long before it became a popular tourist spot, it was a thriving village of artisanal families celebrating their way of life through weaving, wood carving, jewelry making, and brass casting. While others grew up with Disney Princesses, my bedtime stories were about an indigenous T’boli Princess and the many indigenous groups in the Philippines. My mother would put me to sleep while reminiscing about her life as a volunteer on a mission immersed in indigenous communities. This piqued my curiosity to learn about the Igorots, Ifugaos, Maranaos, Kalingas, Manobos, Mangyans, and many more-- how different we all are and yet how we are one and the same- we are all Filipinos. At 13, visiting this rural village was my version of Disneyland. My dream came to life and something in me felt alive.
My pursuit to seek awe led me to return to the village eight years after only to find a ghost town. Everyone turned to become tour guides for immediate income. An elderly artisan shared that they only knew how to barter, they did not know how to do business. This heartbreaking reality pushed me to explore more indigenous and weaving communities across the Philippines hoping to revive what was lost. The hard truth remained in every village I visited—weaving was a dying tradition with the younger generation showing little interest in learning this intergenerational craft. They have migrated to the cities seeking greener pastures as weaving does not put food on the table.
WEAVING DREAMS
With threads of enthusiasm, I humbly went back to my mother to start weaving a shared dream that led us to build ANTHILL- an Alternative Nest and Trading/ Training Hub for Indigenous/Ingenious Little Livelihood seekers. We were on a mission to find creative and innovative ways not just to support livelihood, but to sustain economic opportunities in a manner that would preserve tradition and make our Philippine weaves a staple in fashion.
In ANTHILL, we are in the business of value creation. We are highly invested in the equal growth of our partners and stakeholders. To ensure sustainability, we build the entrepreneurial capacity of partner artisan communities through our Community Enterprise Development Program by transferring business skills and helping professionalize supply chains so communities can become self-reliant and expand to bigger markets. Powered by 98% women, we now work with 30 artisan communities serving about 1000 artisans from Luzon, Visayas to Mindanao representing rural, indigenous, and urban communities.
Creating impact takes time. We invested the first five years of ANTHILL in field visits and participatory dialogues to understand community challenges, establish presence, gain trust, and nurture relationships. Success and growth do not necessarily come in numbers. Through the years, we have witnessed artisans gain ownership of their skills, confidence in their voice, and pride in their craft. Ate Lilia, a weaver from Argao, Cebu, now calls herself a ‘Weaver Designer’. 50% of the weavers in Abra are now young apprentices eager to become Master Weavers. From what was once an undervalued craft, more and more younger weavers perceive weaving as a profession. It is a welcomed pamana, a precious inheritance, and legacy passed on from their mothers and their grandmothers.
The artisans have improved their quality of life creating a ripple effect of positive impact among their families and communities. Using their savings from our Financial Literacy Program, Ate Jingle from our partner HOME Plush Toys now owns a sari-sari store providing her supplementary income. Many artisans like Ate Len-Len from our partner Daraghuyan Bukidnon, have invested in home improvements and now comfortably sleep on a mattress, a simple yet life-changing investment for many who have slept on cold floors most of their lives. “Before we are weavers, we are mothers first,” a declaration a lot of artisans put to heart like Ate Belen, a seamstress in ANTHILL, who has proudly supported her two sons to finish college as a single mom. More than these small and big milestones, what fuels my commitment to purpose is our partner artisans’ incessant and fiery desire to keep weaving bigger dreams. Hope is the fertile ground in which we grow and just like that first visit to Banaue, it is a contagious high that feels truly expansive.
WEAR YOUR TRIBE. WEAR YOUR PRIDE.
“Wear your tribe. Wear with pride” is the battle cry that weaves our shared story, and cultivates our interconnectedness. We sparked a global movement that celebrates our identity honoring what our ancestors considered our ‘second skin’- our heart-woven cloth. Through contemporary designs, it became stylish to wear weaves without looking like a table runner. We have moved beyond limiting hand-loomed textiles to homewares or special occasion “costumes” when culture is not a costume. Weave-wearing has become a form of representation and protection, a way to decolonize, reclaim Filipino culture, and heal intergenerational trauma. With our vision of having every Filipino have a weave in their closet, we have gained Proud Weave Wearers not just among retail customers but also showcase weaves in the uniforms among hospitality partners like Bo’s Coffee and Ascott Makati, and in graduation sashes of schools like De La Salle Zobel, Raya School among others. There is now a growing genuine desire to return to our roots, to our Motherland- pagbabalikbayan. To our community, proud weave-wearing declares, “This is us. This is my tribe and I belong here.”
RESILIENCE IN CRISIS
Despite a solid community loving us loud, the uncertainties of the pandemic pushed me on the verge of quitting. We had an overstock of inventory and a very tight cash runway that led to the closure of a department and our ready-to-wear line. Having to be accountable for so many people’s livelihoods, I reached decision fatigue and struggled to lead in vulnerable times.
Anchored on our values, I forged on in trust that these transitions are transformational. The pause gave us time to rethink the way we work. I learned that in times of crisis, I need to ground and go back home to that beautiful moment in Banaue again. Listening to our partner communities express their desire to weave tradition and technology inspired me to keep weaving forward. Since then, it has been an uphill climb to recovery. In tiny steps, we managed to pivot and launch the very first online community fabric store and opened a new digital platform through our Bayanihan crowdfunding campaign supporting artisans to gain digital marketing skills to expand their reach and increase their income. Additionally, we focused on environmental impact through our circularity programs and creative innovations on upcycling textile waste.
REBIRTH IN SLOW LIVING
In the silence of the pandemic years, the practice of weaving remained a form of meditation for a lot of our weavers. It transformed into a prayer of hope, seeking solace in the rhythm of the loom. As the world decelerated, I, too, slowed down and shed the burdens of expectations and future plans, redirecting my attention toward the present.
In Ifugao, the indigenous term “tam-awan” translates to “vantage point.” At 13, I found myself captivated by the art of weaving. Now in our 13-year journey in ANTHILL, the village that sparked it all symbolizes a rebirth, our coming of age. It imparts a profound lesson encouraging me to view things in perspective, observe without judgment, remain in awe, express gratitude, and savor living in the now.