The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said on Thursday that it aims to expand the market reach of ‘dying’ locally made products by helping Filipino artisans showcase their crafts to a wider audience.
“The more you help us bring out the information that there is such product, the more you create a demand for them,” DTI Assistant Secretary Al Modesto Valenciano told BusinessWorld in an interview.
“Let’s face it, it’s economics. For it to go on, there has to be a demand,” he added. “The more we inform people about it, the more we inform other designers about it, and the more we use the products, the more it can go on.”
Under the LIKHA program, spearheaded by First Lady Marie Louise “Liza” Araneta-Marcos and operationalized by the DTI, artisanal pieces across the country, especially those that are fading, are exhibited to attract potential buyers, and hopefully ‘resurrect’ the dying craftsmanship.
Among these exhibitors is the Holistic Coalition of the Willing (HoliCOW), which featured Cebu’s Kinarnero in partnership with Cebu Technological University (CTU) Argao Campus.
Kinarnero is a traditional handwoven textile and loop weave with a fleece-like texture that makes it absorbent. The technique neared extinction because of raw material shortages and a failure to pass the tradition on to younger generations.
“It died down because, perhaps, of the material that is actually lacking. So, there are no available materials traditionally used for this,” Crysali Therese Dayaganon, professor at CTU Argao, told BusinessWorld in an interview.
“Another problem is actually, nowadays, there are only a few who are able to pass down the skill and actually weave,” she added.
Mr. Valenciano noted that the LIKHA program aims to encourage local craftsmen not only to sustain their heritage work, but also to encourage others to continue the tradition.
“The ones doing the Lagang shell craft in Cebu, he’s the only one left, but after a year, he discovered that there’s a market. He’s now training his community,” he said. “That’s what we encourage them to do.”
“Train your community, involve the community because they cannot multiply their speed; it’s all handmade, but they can multiply the people who work the way they work,” he added.
Over 100 artisans participated in the fifth edition of Likha. After the program, craftsmen can display their pieces at the year-round showroom Likhang Filipino Exhibition Halls in Pasay City, for free.
“We mark up their products a bit, like 10-15%, which is not really much because it will only [cover] the cost of handling, stocking, and operations – the people we pay for them to sell the stock,” Mr. Valenciano said.
About 9,000 attendees are expected to visit the three-day cultural showcase, which runs from Oct. 2 to 4.
“Last year we had an average of like 2,000 to 3,000 a day. We hope to get the same… I would love to see the youth, the DTI official said. — Almira Louise S. Martinez