Traditional Weaver
Catherine Ekid Domigyay
Catherine was born in Can-eo Bontoc, Mountain Province where she learned weaving. Her mother, including almost 96% of the women in their community, are also weavers. She was taught by the female villagers about weaving at an early age of six. Her people use their art in their traditional events like weddings or “bodong” meaning peace pact to other municipalities or provinces in the cordillera. Weaving became a passion for her from childhood until the present day as she made a business revolving around the craft that she learned and called it “Inabel ni Ina”. “Inabel” is a weaving tradition native to the people of northern Luzon.
Catherine’s Works
The materials that Catherine uses consists of backstrap looms and threads that she gets from the local market. For her tools in weaving, she uses footloom or “tilar”, a wood frame, heddle and “suyod” or comb. Catherine also uses patterns in her craft which they call “Minatmata”. Her process starts off by warping the thread then rolling it around a loom. She then places the loom with thread into the heddle and combing it with a “Suyod” before weaving. It takes a day for warping the thread and two days for heddling. Weaving 30 yards of textile takes up to ten to fifteen days. Although she is not particularly known for any technique in weaving, she has a different approach with her designs by combining various threads. She stated that the only similarities that she shares with other weavers is the type of clothing they make. While on the topic of the types of clothing that they do, making “Filipinianas” and Haoris (traditional loose jackets) are her favorites to make.
The tradition of weaving is important for weavers like Catherine because of their love for the fashion of their culture. As creative as she is, she often feels the overwhelming surge of ideas that she wants to apply into her projects but that doesn’t stop her in expressing herself through her craft. Catherine provides workshops for the youth. An act to pass the tradition of their craft to the next generation.
As a weaver, a way for her to determine a custom made traditional clothing is well done if it is neatly stitched, flawlessly. Being an artisan demands being innovative and ingenuine while incorporating the traditional and custom designs that they were used to make in order to attract more interest in their products. A creative way to adapt during our modern progress while preserving and sharing their culture of weaving.
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Cathy Ekid