Maricris Floirendo-Brias

Creative Director, TADECO Home

 

A passionate lover of ethnic craftsmanship, designer Maricris Floirendo-Brias doesn’t just promote Filipino design; she also creates livelihoods for indigenous peoples

“Love local” is a mantra that is oft-repeated, but few people live by the words as closely and as deeply as designer Maricris Floirendo-Brias — to the point that the phrase seems shallow in comparison.

This is a woman who has dedicated her life to studying and working with various ethnic tribes of the Philippines. Her discoveries inspired her to establish TADECO Home as a development programme to support the wives and dependents of workers at a Mindanaoan banana plantation. TADECO Livelihood and Training Centre has been around since 1962, although Floirendo-Brias would eventually rebrand it in 1989 as TADECO Home using the company's existing resources in order to create home products for export. Today, it is an award-winning handicraft business that uses only local abaca and banana fibres and traditional techniques passed down by ethnic tribes for generations.

Through her passion and dedication, TADECO Home hasn’t just preserved indigenous artistry: it has provided a livelihood to communities. And this authenticity takes material form in the nature-inspired shapes and patterns of Brias’ home pieces — which continue to impress, if her win at the prestigious Red Dot Design Awards are anything to go by. “Our culture really stems from the indigenous people,” she says. “That’s where we find what is really Filipino, through their arts and crafts.”

Of her design philosophy, Floirendo-Brias shared to Tatler, "I believe the Past and Present can co-exist in harmony." She is a graduate of Graphic Arts at Goldsmiths College, University of London.

Impacted Industries


Awards


2020

Innovative Products (Brain Coral Panel and Sea Fan Coral Wall Panel), Red Dot Design Award

Did You Know?


The daughter of a “banana magnate,” Maricris Floirendo-Brias and her siblings were tasked to plant bananas when they worked at one of their father’s farms.

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