Rediscovering bamboocraft

Saturday, February 11, 2012

“UNDER the bam, Under the boo, Under the bamboo tree,” so goes the simple ditty sang by Allie Fox of Paul Theroux’s unforgettable The Mosquito Coast.

Especially in Asia where the grass grows bountifully, bamboo is used as housing material, food, cattle fodder, furniture, pipes, bridges, and paper. Enter the Philippines where the Pinoys have done many other lovely things to the bamboo.

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Our inherent creativity has enabled us to fashion bamboo into functional art. At a tiny two-week-old store at Barangay Dos Hermanas, Talisay, bamboo craft comes alive in the able hands of Felixberto Tabianosa who owns Tabianosa Arts and Crafts.

What actually made me get off the bus and take a good look at his wares were the coconut alkansiyas that he oh-so-cleverly shaped into monkeys. What do I call these? Monkey banks, I suppose.

Mr. Tabianosa cut away part of the coconut to reveal the hard shell inside. He polished the exposed shell with lacquer and shaped the tuft of coir into a monkey smoking a pipe, or a mother monkey gathering her babies to her side. They look so adorable that you wouldn’t want to shatter them with a hammer when they’re filled up with your savings. They look more like works of art that you’d want to preserve rather than things you discard just like that.

By the door of the shop, a few shelves display Tabianosa’s handicrafts of lampshades that would look right at home in a weekend beach or farm abode. The shades (P600) are trimmed with hard outer bamboo strips decorated by singeing them into a pattern.

Next to the lampshades, my favorites were attaché cases (P200) big enough to hold a student’s notes and baon, or an office worker’s documents. This would be a radical change from the sleek leather portfolios, perhaps, on casual Friday.

Yet the big hit for the busloads of students that got off to visit were the pretty fans and the back scratchers. The fans are a steal at P25 and the back scratchers were at P20. Fruit trays are also available.

Some trays are made with the hard outer part of the bamboo giving the tray durability while some are made with bamboo strips shaved from the softer more pliant part of the plant so they are cheaper. In order to bend the hard parts into shape, the artisan uses a torch to apply heat with delicate skill.

The fifty-five-year-old Mr. Tabianosa learned the craft from his father when he was thirteen years old. He started by making amacan (woven bamboo strips used as building material), tabig (huge baskets for kaing) and kalalaw (flat baskets used for winnowing rice). A job opportunity at the Dos Hermanas feed mill caused him to stop making his wares for ten years. It is our gain that this creative mind lost that job and made him go back to producing useful art objects. The designs that we see are very much his own.

Now, Tabianosa Arts and Crafts has turned into a family business where his son helps out with production. He supplies a stall at the Bacolod City Public Market and also gets to display his world-class products during the Panaad Festival. The good news is, bamboo craft can be kept alive for the generations to come. Mr. Tabianosa may be hired as a trainer for barangay projects for the city.