The fascinating woven leaf forms that captivated our childhoods. Photo from Elmer Nocheseda.
I remember the days when summers meant crushing gumamela bits into slimy concoctions that produced the most enduring bubbles, hanging out by our large bougainvillea bush (sometimes swinging my legs from that particular branch that seemed most perfectly suited for a child’s bottom to comfortably sit in), gathering their little flower centers to make miniature bouquets, and playing patintero on the street (it was relatively safe because the end of our street was closed, so few cars came by). Our neighbor across the street had a little sari-sari store, and two large coconut trees out front.
I remember being particularly fascinated when one of their sari-sari store keepers wove some leaves into a ball for us to play with. It was a delightful toy, but since those summers of yore, I never again got to see these woven palm leaf forms until I saw Elmer Nocheseda’s flickr account (c/o Bea). And since then, he’s captivated the child of my imagination with the complex palm leaf forms he’s able to create.
At CraftMNL, we figured it was high time to jumpstart our Heritage series of workshops, not just to reminisce on the crafts of our childhood, but to look with the eyes of promise at these old craft forms, seeing visions of newer applications, or ways of seeing new functions for the old forms.
Sticking around the city for Holy Week? Join us on March 30 as we weave the magic of summers past. Check out workshop details and registration here. And if you’d like to see some of the forms we’ll be making during the workshop, check out the album here.
