Monday, July 09, 2007 Kalinga ethnic textile in world’s best
TABUK, Kalinga -- Certainly one of the earliest, the Kalinga textile, which is now catching users’ preference here and abroad, has been included in the world list of renowned woven products by an English engineer who came to do research work in the country.
Eric Anderson, an engineer and economist who worked in the country for seven years, made a research on Kalinga material culture and produced a monograph – Kalinga Culture, which featured Kalinga woven textile.
Anderson brought home a copy of this document and made presentations about it at the People’s Ethnographic Museum in Stockholm and at the Textile Society of Hong Kong.
He maintains a collection of textiles from various parts of the world and his collection of Kalinga items is said to be the largest private collections in the world with more than 100 documented antique textiles. He created and opened the Antique Luzon Tribal Art Connoisseurs (Altaco) site.
Weaving in the province, which could be traced as early as the 18th century, derived certain origin and influence from the Indonesian design and has now evolved in its fashionable fit – the Ginamat design.
Ginamat, predominantly styled by the Lubuagan weavers, is a twilled pattern decorated with silk embroidery. It’s geometric in nature, showing the early mathematic prowess of Kalinga weavers, even in the absence of formal education in mathematics.
Today, Ginamat is chosen as the favorite ethnic accent in the modern world for weddings, pageants and scintillating occasions.
Textile stylists of the world read in the Ginamat not only its fashionable design but its symbolic significance, depicting the value of culture of its origin. It speaks of the living waters in Kalinga, carried down by the currents of Chico River.
The Chico is a rich source of living for many Kalinga tribes. It was the proposed site of the failed Chico Dam hydro-electric project, which attracted rebellion from Cordillera tribes in the 80s.
Kalinga textile has its distinct fabulous quality using indigenous raw materials from banana, cogon, abaca and maguey. Weavers use these basic materials and braid them with polyester or cotton textile.
New innovative products finding competitive demand in international markets include dining accessories such as table runners and place mats. Common items produced are skirts, loincloths, sashes, capes, headbands, blankets, blouses and underskirts, bags and pouches.
