March 5, 2012

Fine work

Two weeks after my husband and I spent a weekend in San Pablo City in Laguna, I went back again for a day trip with my college friends. We had lunch at Patis Tito Garden Café, and it was our good fortune that Patis Tesoro, the owner of the café, was in for the weekend.

Patis is better known in the country as the doyenne of Filipino fashion for her creative and elegant designs using indigenous fabrics. Her special passion is handwoven fabrics, like t'nalak (made of abaca fibers) and piña (made from pineapple leaf fibers), many of which are endangered because the number of weavers is dwindling.

Patis Tesoro showing off a length of lacy piña cloth
The stunning mantel (tablecloth) she showed us is made of hand-loomed piña. Piña already has a loose weave, but to create the lacy pattern, individual threads were pulled out carefully then meticulously knotted with cream, black and gold threads—all by hand.

a close-up of Patis Tesoro's lacy piña cloth
It took the women of Patis Tesoro's atelier three months to finish the cloth, and it can be yours for Php85,000 (US$1,990).

11 comments:

Stefan Jansson said...

She must be a talented woman. Always interesting to see local faces.

Rob Siemann said...

I am amazed that, somewhere in the world, someone still spends 3 months of her/his time to create such a thing of beauty!

Tamera said...

That's incredible handiwork. Gorgeous!

Cezar and Léia said...

Outstanding artwork! :)
Léia

VP said...

Almost incredible, that is a real work of art!

Halcyon said...

I can't afford her work, but I can appreciate its beauty from your photos. Fabulous!

Lowell said...

That is one amazing tablecloth. I can see why it is $1990, and I think it would be worth every penny!

Our new website is up and running and we'll be posting there from now on. (I hope! ;-)

http://landlphotography.weebly.com/

Just go to the blog (in the upper menu) that you want to access...

Lowell said...

I'm sorry, Hilda; must be getting old and confused. The link should be:

http://landlphotography2.weebly.com/

Dina said...

It certainly is beautiful and knowing its story makes it all the more wondrous.

Melbourne Australia Photos said...

I always admire talented craftspeople who do fine work like this.

brattcat said...

what beautiful work!