Meaning to dance in Filipino, Sayaw is an accessory collection made from regenerative and natural materials, inspired by the way Filipina women design like the earth - circular in nature, intentional in craft, for our communities to remember their cultures. Similar to the life cycle of our flora, Filipina women adapt to our changing climate, to keep our cultures alive. This collection pulls from the often undocumented histories of the Filipina women’s resistance to colonial cultural assimilation through the weave. Sayaw aims to retell their stories by reinterpreting the Filipiñana, using natural materials from home symbolizing the circular resistance of design, so the stories of our culture may dance freely again. 

Crafted with mango-bio leather for the bag, sculpted recycled brass for the jewelry, and woven Piña for the Saya at Tapis (skirt and overskirt) naturally dyed with tobacco leaves. Each Piña piece is crafted in collaboration with Lumban’s women artisans, as it is these women in craft who taught me that colonial narratives can be reclaimed, one stitch at a time. Inspired by the shared resilience of both our people and nature, in the end, all these textiles may return to the earth, symbolizing a cycle, complete. Because just like the flowers sewn on our fabric, we may evolve, reclaim, and rise again.