Designers Olivia d’Aboville and Amina Aranaz-Alunan have been commissioned to create new collections for Home and Fashion using Philippine indigenous materials. Spotted at NeoTextiles second edition at Manila FAME.

The Center for International Trade Expositions & Missions (CITEM) commissioned two of the country’s hottest young designers to create new collections for Home and Fashion using Philippine indigenous materials at the 60th Manila FAME slated October 16-19 at the SMX Convention Center, Mall of Asia Complex in Pasay City.

Olivia d’Aboville, the program’s Designer for Home, showed a modern Home applications of the fabrics developed with the participating weaving communities. Amina Aranaz-Alunan, Designer for Fashion, created a collections of fashion

The 2nd edition of NeoTextiles Philippines featured six weaving communities coming from the Visayas and Mindanao regions – twice the number of textile manufacturer-participants as compared to its introductory launch last year. The Philippine Textile Research Institute (PTRI) provided textile development support and consultancy to the participating designers as part of the textile development component of the program.

The featured Visayan textiles and manufacturers were: piña by Heritage Arts and Crafts of Aklan, Philippine silk by Negros Silk Manufacturers’ Association of Negros Occidental, hablon by Salngan Multi-Purpose Cooperative of Iloilo, and raffia textile by Tubigon Loomweavers Multi-Purpose Cooperative of Bohol. While the Mindanao textiles and manufacturers were: hinabol by the Higaunon Women Weavers of Bukidnon and t’nalak woven by the T’boli weavers of Klowil Multi-Purpose Cooperative in South Cotabato.

To showcase the versatility of the NeoTextiles, Olivia d’Aboville teamed-up with CustomMade Crafts Center and Tinukib to produce Home items made of hinabol and hablon. Another participating company,That One Piece, collaborated with Olivia to create eye-catching lamps using the developed fabrics. While Amina Aranaz-Alunan introduced the ARANAZ chic collections of Fashion wearables using the NeoTextiles.

Last year, CITEM, the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) export-marketing arm, launched its Material Development Program which gave birth to NeoTextiles Philippines as a textile-development and branding initiative for contemporary Philippines textiles.

NeoTextiles promotes Philippine indigenous fibers and textiles, and aims to support the multitude of weaving communities that produce them.