Redeeming a Past

When India De La Cruz graduated with a Fine Arts degree from the UST (University of Santo Tomas) in 1967, she was searching for a theme that would assert her originality. A Fine Arts education normally involves classical realism, renaissance and impressionistic renditions, all essentially oriented to the evolution of Western art. India wanted to express her Filipino identity. She found her chance in ten yards of antique pina fabric which belonged to her grandmother. Using it as a platform for her images, she noted its receptiveness to pigment. Rather than smearing colors, it supported their integrity. When pina and related fabric were in vogue, they were weaved plain, then sent to Lumban, Quezon or Laguna for embroidery. While porous, they tended to be somewhat stiff. Treatment to improve their tactility was still in the distant future. Sources for material were pineapple leaves, abaca, rice stalks and banana plants. Just stripping them for thread was labor intensive. Even weaving them into cloth was delicate work. So expensive to produce, few people could afford them, preferring factory made fabric for their garments. The craft fell into neglect. Only three major tailoring outfits were devoted to its production, and they produced specialty items for souvenirs. India made it her mission to revive interest in endemic materials.

Locating a few weavers still acquainted with the technique and the special looms needed to construct the cloth, she established a small studio. The process of interlacing the threads into fabric was so intricate, that a frayed thread would interrupt the operation, which would have to be halted while the fibers are reknotted, before weaving can recommence. Abaca, banana stalks and rice straw were viable alternatives to pina (pineapple fiber). Blended with other conventional threads, they result in novel combinations. Even elegant silk could be intertwined to improve the tensility of the fabric. On the cloth she created, she painted images in native Filipino motifs. A Rustan Product Sourcing Manager wandered into one of her local exhibitions in 1988 (Rustan is an upscale department store in Makati) and asked her if the discipline could be applied to functional products. Overnight, she prepared samples, hand painted placemats on pina fabric. A trial purchase order was issued for placemats, napkins and table runners. It was the beginning of a long business association. It encouraged the employment of other native materials for table linens and even, hand painted barongs from 1989 to 1994. In the meantime, she married Javier V. Legaspi.

Mrs. Legaspi continued to amplify and vary her creations, employing new here-to-fore, and underused local resources. By then, she had hired 250 fulltime weavers (training more apprentices) and 2,000 satellite suppliers (Farmers, fiber extractors, spinners, knotters, et.). Since The Marcos’ time, when the first couple introduced native garments as formal, pride in Philippine traditions, even foreign influences injected by colonizers were given currency. She had emerged on the scene at a fortuitous period in the country’s history. Seeing her success, imitators jumped on the bandwagon. Confident enough in her talent and her distinctive panache, she did not resent the competition; certain that demand for distinctively Philippine products could be sustained.

In 1982, she was conferred the signal honor of garbing Kalibo, Aklan’s patron saint, Santo Nino De Almas with her hand painted garments and accoutrements for the religious procession that capped the town’s nationally famous festival, “Ati Atihan”, a local interpetation of Mardi Gras. She is still conscripted to provide them to this day.

In 1985, she was awarded The Outstanding Aklan Artist in Visual Arts Plaque by The Archbishop Gabriel M. Reyes Memorial Foundation. She collaborated with Amelita Ramos (Philippine President Fidel Ramos’ wife) and Patis Tesoro, in promoting traditional Philippine folk art. She became president of the Katutubong Filipino Foundation (Philippine Roots). She continued to garner awards, another of which was from FIDO, Fiber Industrial Development Authority in 1990. Four years later, she earned the municipality’s Outstanding Aklanon Award. Indian went to Paris, France in 1997 for The Foire de Paris to promote Filipino traditional fabrics at the Philippine Pavilion. The different fabrics they brought, from materials unknown in the west, attracted a great deal of attention. Her reputation continued to expand.

Her fine fabrics attracted the attention of a product company supplier of a local franchisee for Calvin Klein Home which requested samples of cushion covers for possible distribution among their regional outlets. The prototypes of natural fiber cloth were promptly accepted and she has been supplying the company with pillow-cases and cushion covers ever since. Visitors to her studio in Kalibo cannot help but be infected with her enthusiasm as she presents her unique hand painted fabric displayed strategically in every corner. Not just table linen, and bedding, but shawls, hand-kerchiefs, handbags, and slippers. India’s entrepreneurial skills permit her to pursue her art. She is grateful for the opportunity to delineate images that reflect her native culture before it is completely overwhelmed by intrusive external influences.