9th Likhang HABI Market Fair Press Preview (September 12, 2019)

Catriona Gray has done a lot to raise the equity of indigenous textiles on the world stage, but prior to her Miss U journey, HABI: The Philippine Textile Council has already been undertaking quite a lot of activities!

This time, they invited us to a sneak peek of their upcoming #HABIJourney at the 9th Likhang HABI Market Fair on October 11-13, 2019 at the Glorietta 3 Activity Center.

HABI Chair Maribel Ongpin gave a discussion on why they started doing what they doing. She shared that the problem is that rare weaving techniques usually die out because city designers and manufacturers have no access or no knowledge of the weaves. The native weavers, having no steady stream of buyers, will eventually move onto other industries, or some take the secret techniques with them to the grave with no clear line of succession. As such, they took it to heart to bridge weaving communities to designers, manufacturers, the world, or the universe rather.

To invite people to the fair, she shared: “We encourage Likhang HABI fairgoers to immerse themselves in the beautiful weaving communities and traditional textiles of our country. We will have participating weavers from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao so the opportunity to learn at the fair is endless.”

“There is an abundance of beautiful fabrics in the Philippines and we want to show that these fabrics from different corners of the Philippines can be a part of our modern lifestyle,” says HABI President Adelaida Lim.

She also shared that their organization is also busy preparing a weaving contest for aspirants under 30 from all walks of life! Watch out for that, too. To add, another highlight of the fair is the awarding of the 2nd Lourdes Montinola Piña Prize, which recognizes exceptional craftsmanship and mastery of the delicate process of turning pineapple threads into works of art.

We got to see various fabrics from different parts of the country!!! Different weaves and different fibers produce different results, so the next frontier is to integrate previously unused materials for a particular weave. Piña, for example, is really expensive, so they have been studying how to weave fabrics featuring piña hybridized with something else, so like one direction is piña while the opposite weave is another fiber. They have also been studying on how to use various materials to achieve certain levels of sheerness or softness of output.

The 9th Likhang HABI Market Fair will have 52 merchants! Fairgoers can find a good array of sustainable and ethically sourced products using traditional textiles. Textiles such as habol negrense from Negros Occidental, yakan from Basilan, inaul from Maguindanao, binubudan from Ifugao, binakol and abel from Ilocos, and tepina from Palawan will be highlighted at the fair.

The photos that follow are of the beautiful textiles I saw at the sneak peek. But they will have more than just buy and sell at the fair. They will also have weaving workshops and Baybayin workshops! They will also feature cultural dance and other elements of traditional Filipino culture at the fair.