OUR COLLECTION — ASIA — PHILIPPINES 128. NEWSPAPER NATIVITY
Conscientious hand work and skilled carving were used to create this one-of-a-kind Nativity. This set from the Philippines is made from rolled recycled newspaper. The alnos wood used for the carved faces and hands comes from native trees from the cool climate of a mountainous area of the country. The hair is abaca fiber. The standing figures measure 12 inches tall.
Felomena Adiwang makes breadbaskets, coasters and hot mats from recycled newspaper at a workshop of the Women’s Multipurpose Cooperative in Baguio City, Philippines. Using an innovative process, Felomena and other artisans turn recycled newspapers into new and beautiful products. Felomena starts by wrapping strips of the paper around a single bristle from a broom. After wrapping the paper, Felomena coils it into spiraled square building blocks and secures the coil with starch. Then she joins the building blocks with a thread and glue to make the final product. After constructing the breadbasket, coaster or hot pad, she uses starch to harden the paper and add shine.
In addition to earning a fair income for her work, Felomena values the time she can spend working with her family at the workshop close to her house. The workshop truly resembles community; Caridad Willy, the workshop owner and a relative, helped Felomena rebuild her home after it burned in 2005.
The Women’s Multipurpose Cooperative was started to create jobs for people who moved into the area around Baguio City hoping to work in the copper and gold mines. The women are skilled weavers, using mostly backstrap and upright wooden looms. They also create crocheted and knitted items, recycled baskets from newspaper, as well as Christmas decorations made of pine needles and baskets indigenous to the communities. The Women’s Multipurpose Cooperative helps women work together in groups, obtain government help in skills training, buy raw materials, provide an access to low interest loans to capitalize the industry and obtain titles to their land.
Felomena Adiwang makes breadbaskets, coasters and hot mats from recycled newspaper at a workshop of the Women’s Multipurpose Cooperative in Baguio City, Philippines. Using an innovative process, Felomena and other artisans turn recycled newspapers into new and beautiful products. Felomena starts by wrapping strips of the paper around a single bristle from a broom. After wrapping the paper, Felomena coils it into spiraled square building blocks and secures the coil with starch. Then she joins the building blocks with a thread and glue to make the final product. After constructing the breadbasket, coaster or hot pad, she uses starch to harden the paper and add shine.
In addition to earning a fair income for her work, Felomena values the time she can spend working with her family at the workshop close to her house. The workshop truly resembles community; Caridad Willy, the workshop owner and a relative, helped Felomena rebuild her home after it burned in 2005.
The Women’s Multipurpose Cooperative was started to create jobs for people who moved into the area around Baguio City hoping to work in the copper and gold mines. The women are skilled weavers, using mostly backstrap and upright wooden looms. They also create crocheted and knitted items, recycled baskets from newspaper, as well as Christmas decorations made of pine needles and baskets indigenous to the communities. The Women’s Multipurpose Cooperative helps women work together in groups, obtain government help in skills training, buy raw materials, provide an access to low interest loans to capitalize the industry and obtain titles to their land.