Saturday, August 16, 2008 Hand and heart for hablon By Bombette G. Marin
WEAVING serves as markers of cultural pride and inheritance. The handloom industry of Panay is one of the great weaving institutions in the Philippines.
In Iloilo, hablon -- a plain-colored hand-loomed fabric made mostly of polyester developed in the mid 50's -- is almost a synonymous name connected with famed Ilongga fashion designer Jaki Peñalosa.
The designer's critical education with the fabric began in 1992 when she featured her designs together with world-renowned couturier Renee Salud in the Asean fashion show in L.A. California. Her Jaki Peñalosa store at Robinsons Iloilo, established in 2006, is a continuously evolving shop featuring contemporary women's clothing.
This locally owned boutique showcases incredibly beautiful fabrics from Aklan and Iloilo: hand-woven, tribal or antique-finished and new. It has become the gallery of the designer's collections to celebrate her innovation and artistry.
Peñalosa's hand-loomed fabrics are admired by many. Whether in bright or natural tones, the threads used are spun and hand-woven into stunning fabrics with beautiful designs. She oversees how it is started and finished, which patterns she chooses, and how she embellishes the patterns on the fabrics' surface.
Her hablon creations is not a dress of features, but a work that, literally, weaves together aesthetically deliberate and culturally meaningful ideas.
Understanding form and technique is different from understanding creativity. Technical skill, and even the complicated process of combining materials such as the woven fabric, the design or pattern, its function, and so forth, is only a part of a designer and weaver's competence. Yet a process-oriented view of designing clothes using hand-loomed fabrics leads us to find beauty in the creation of a work of art.
The designer believes that tradition is not a list of rules, but rather a set of values that guide her and the weavers in their work. Tradition may tell a designer to use hand-loomed fabrics only in special occasions or a weaver to weave using bright-colored threads.
For her, tradition allows her to create masterpieces, different from every other designers or hand-woven fabrics. Peñalosa focuses on niche design and products that are unique and competitive. She hopes to professionalize Panay's natural fiber industry so that future designers will have more ingredients to use in their ethnic designs.
The first Indigenous Fashion Market Week opens with Habol Ilonggo featuring Peñalosa's palette of hablon, with touches of abaca, raffia, and hemp fabrics infused with an international sensibility that draws upon the best of Iloilo's handcraft traditions.
She is known for designing and producing one-of-a-kind hand loomed fabrics comprised of natural fibers with contemporary aesthetic designs to appeal to the sophisticated local and international markets.
The Provincial Tourism Office of the Iloilo Provincial Government with the Department of Trade and Industry is committed to promote sustainable development by focusing exclusively on creating products using indigenous sources.
Jaki Peñalosa takes center stage with Habol Ilonggo on August 17, 2008, 6 p.m., at SM City Activity Center.
