Crafts for a cause at Kultura Filipino

MANILA, Philippines - Since it opened its first store in 2003, Kultura Filipino has celebrated Filipino creativity and ingenuity by showcasing world-class products made from indigenous materials by local artisans, helping create livelihood opportunities for backyard industries.

On May 20, Kultura Filipino continues to give back to communities with the launching of Crafts for a Cause to benefit non-profit organizations. Products are made by underprivileged members of society trained by various foundations through livelihood programs aimed at enriching their lives and making them self-sufficient.

When you shop at Crafts for a Cause at the Kultura Filipino store in SM Makati, you not only support livelihood programs, but also discover wonderful items from all over the Philippines.

There are crafts with an ethnic touch from cultural minorities: woven mats, colorful fans, and accessories by the sea-dwelling Samal Bajau tribe of Basilan through the Claret Samal Foundation; Ifugao-inspired accessories and trinkets made by Cordnet in the Cordillera region; and carved wooden items from the Palawan NGO Network, Inc.

There are also wristlets and coin purses made from tetra packs as well as candles and rosaries made from recycled magazines from Gawad Kalinga; and bags made from tetra packs by families of Baseco, Tondo through Kabalikat sa Kaunlaran.

Old telephone directories and newspapers are made into bags by the streetchildren and women assisted by the Gifts and Graces Trade Fair Foundation and the Kabisig ng Kalahi Foundation.

With the help of Isla Para sa Kaunlaran Foundation, tin cans are transformed into novelty items by the marginalized community of Maribacan, Pasay. Tab rings from soda cans make wonderful bags by poor families from Smokey Mountain, Tondo with the livelihood programs of the Philippine Christian Foundation.

Bags and home items made from recycled materials, as well as wax products made by newly released prisoners and inmates of Philippine jails and prisons will also be highlighted during the event.

Crafts for a Cause brings together products from livelihood programs all over the Philippines: driftwood sculptures by the flood and typhoon-stricken farmers and fisherfolk of Banglos, Quezon; carved candles made by the women of the E. Zobel Foundation; resin jewelry with butterfly accents by the butterfly farmers of Boac, Marinduque through Isla de Bila Bila; and macrame bags by by the women of San Andres, Bukid, Manila through the Kaibigan Ermita Outreach Foundation.

There are also antique-finish religious icons from the Ginto Foundation and wooden bead jewelry from the Holy Family Home Foundation’s livelihood programs.

Shop with a heart in Kultura Filipino’s Crafts for a Cause beginning May 20 at Kultura Filipino in SM Makati. Other Kultura Filipino stores are located at SM Megamall, the Block at SM City North EDSA, the SM Mall of Asia and SM City Cebu, as well as selected SM Department Stores.