Good buys, feel good

MANILA, Philippines - Since it opened its first store in 2003, Kultura Filipino has celebrated Filipino creativity and ingenuity by showcasing quality products fashioned by local artisans from indigenous materials. This has not only highlighted local products, but also helped create livelihood opportunities for small backyard industries.

Now Kultura Filipino continues to give back to communities with the launching of Crafts for a Cause, a program that puts heart into retailing with products from livelihood programs of non-profit organizations. These products are made by underprivileged members of society trained by various foundations aimed at enriching their lives and making them self-sufficient.

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.

Shoppers will also be amazed with the beautiful and innovative crafts made from recycled materials. There are wristlets and coin purses made from tetra packs as well as candles and rosaries made from recycled magazines from Gawad Kalinga; and bags also made from tetra packs by families of Baseco, Tondo through Kabalikat sa Kaunlaran.

Old telephone directories and newspapers are fashioned into bags by the street children and women assisted by the Gifts and Graces Trade Fair Foundation and the Kabisig ng Kalahi Foundation. With the help of the Isla Para sa Kaunlaran Foundation, tin cans are transformed into novelty items by the marginalized community of Maribacan, Pasay. Tab rings from soda cans, on the other hand, make wonderful bags and fashion accessories 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 launch on Thursday, may 20.

Crafts for a Cause brings together innovative and unusual products from all over the Philippines: driftwood sculptures by the flood and typhoon stricken farmers and fisherfolk of Banglos, Quezon; carved candles made by women involved in the livelihood programs 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 the women of San Andres Bukid, Manila through the Kaibigan Ermita Outreach Foundation.

Through its partnerships with the various foundations and organizations, Kultura Filipino aims to bring about awareness about the products of these livelihood programs, so these can be sustained and grow.