Anthill Fabric Gallery: A New Participant in 2014 Gabii sa Kabilin

Anthill Fabric Gallery is among the new participating sites during last week’s 8th Gabii sa Kabilin.

Anthill or Alternative Nest and Trading Hub for Indigenous/Ingenious Little Livelihood seekers has showcased beautifully hand-woven crafts like blouses, skirts, shawls, bracelets, wallets and a lot more in their gallery.

But one thing that made Gabii sa Kabilin guests happier that night was their Craft Corner. With a tagline, “Wear your Tribe, Wear with Pride” this craft corner has become a avenue where guests were able to create their own bracelets and anklets for a souvenir.

Everyone, from the senior citizens to kids, enjoyed making their own stuff.

All of the crafts made by Anthill were produced from natural and organic products like abaca, fiber, flowers, seeds and soil. Anthill products were also personally hand-crafted by local folks.

According to the Managing Director of Anthill Fabric Gallery, Ms. Joy Anya Lim, this project is intended to preserve the dying weaving culture.

“Anthill supports and establishes community-weaving enterprises to promote and preserve homegrown skills and living traditions, and enable the appreciation and transmission of Filipino weaving culture to the younger generations through business development, product design and innovation, and market access,” Lim said.

Anthill also believes that in modern times, we don’t need to abandon our traditional culture to be cool and fashionable. In fact, we can always utilize our own produce in making our fashionable clothes and accessories.

Gabii sa Kabilin 2014 has been a remarkable night for the gallery not because its Anthill’s first time to be part of this annual heritage night, but also because its exhibits has inspired many people in promoting our “almost-forgotten weaving culture”.