Likhang HABI Market Fair Returns This 2022

HABI: The Philippine Textile Council is steadfast in pursuing its mission to promote the art of hand-weaving not only through its annual and much-anticipated market fair but also by supporting these businesses in their production stage.

"We’re the first in this line of promoting indigenous fabrics as fashion," Maribel Ongpin, the council's founding chairman, says. "Second, while most of the other bazaars have reached a sophisticated level, we continue to go grassroots."

As a non-profit organisation, HABI doesn’t earn anything from its annual endeavour. Whatever percentage it charges from the gross income of each exhibitor is ploughed back to cover basic expenses, including the staging of next year’s fair.

"The fair is one of HABI’s biggest fund-raising activities," says council secretary Mia Villanueva. The Likhang Habi fair, through the generous support of Ayala Land and the Ayala Foundation, is held every year at Glorietta. Individual exhibitors still rent the space from HABI at very reasonable rates. Fledgling exhibitors, who are grouped together in a common section called the HABI booth, are also welcome to participate.

Being the first of its kind in the country, the fair will also feature two uniquely Filipino competitions: the annual Lourdes Montinola Piña Weaving Competition and, starting this year, the Eloisa Hizon Gomez Abaca Competition. Contestants are going to be judged by a panel of experts on Philippine textiles, processes, and materials. 

“This is our fifth year of holding the piña competition and since we’ve had it, we’ve noticed that artisans working on piña have been levelling up,” says HABI president Adelaida Lim.

Ultimately, the three-day fair is HABI’s biggest and most talked about fundraising activity. Aside from direct donations from individuals and companies, the fair is one of the main sources of funding for the council’s projects, which includes the preservation of the art of weaving, educating consumers, and pushing locally made products and artists to the national—and global—market.

“As a country, we carry important fibres like piña and abaca that are uniquely ours. [These] are world-renowned. Since museums in the world feature [these pieces, it’s] considered a legacy of Filipino craftsmanship, identity, and the nation,” Ongpin concludes. 

Alongside the fair, a 30-minute documentary film will be shown at Ayala Museum from October 14 to 31. Titled, Threaded Traditions: Ikat of Cordillera, it records the journey of textiles in the culture of the Cordillera people. This film will be shown in tandem with the museum’s “Skeins of Knowledge, Threads of Wisdom” exhibition.   Shoppers that spend a minimum of PHP 2,500 from the Likhang Habi Market Fair will be entitled to a special ticket rate of PHP 350 upon presentation of their receipt to the Likhang Habi cashiers.

Likhang HABI Market Fair 2022 is made possible by the generous contribution of council sponsors: Glorietta Mall, Ayala Center, Union Bank of the Philippines, The Philippine Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), AY Foundation, Emerging Power Inc., Marubeni Philippines Corporation, Holiday Inn & Suites Makati, Far Eastern University (FEU), and Pancake House with radio partners  DZRH Manila, RPN DYKB Bacolod City, and DYRF Cebu City.