More than a personal piece of adornment, beyond carat weight and gold content, each piece of jewelry can be weighed with meaning.
This is especially true for Filipino jewelry. From the gold of our ancestors, we become aware that even before the Spanish colonizers arrived, we had a society where symbols of status adorned the inhabitants, and we had developed a native belief system reflected in the found artifacts.
During the Hispanic colonial period, local artisans crafted precious metals reflecting indigenous styles from generations past mixed with new influences from Europe. And today the same ingenious mixing of styles and influences is found in the novel gold and precious metal collection featured in the Alahas book and jewelry collection of Gigi Santos Bermejo, now given prominence in the Tesoro’s branch on 1016 Arnaiz Avenue.
Maria Angelica Santos-Bermejo or “Gigi,” has been a collector of Philippine heritage jewelry for the past 39 years. Her years of collecting antiquities and jewelry inspired her to create Alahas, a monumental book with beautiful photographs of heritage and contemporary Filipino jewelry from pre-Magellan to Spanish-colonial to present times. It was recently conferred by the Department of Trade and Industry a “Good Design Award in the Red Category,” an accolade in the publishing world, which makes a book a finalist to compete in the G Mark Good Awards Design in Japan.
For its third Disenyo at Talento Talks Series, Tesoros hosted a gathering of culture appreciators and jewelry collectors at its flagship branch. Guests enjoyed the convivial atmosphere with many familiar attendees as well as new attendants, all with a like-minded interest in fine Filipino cultural traditions that they know will assuredly be had at Tesoros.
All came away indelibly impressed by the depth of Filipino heritage in its jewelry art form and the meaningful legacy that is imbued in every individual piece, whether old or new.
The collection of notable yet affordable Alahas by Gigi Bermejo is available at Tesoros.