AVANT GARDENER This column concludes the three-part series on textile conservationist and cultural advocate Raffy Tesoro’s bid to revive Philippine muslin, commonly known as kulambo. Last week, I wrote about the economic potential of Philippine muslin, some of the challenges Tesoro and his team of 17 weavers have encountered, and the need to cultivate Philippine cotton if we want to be competitive in the premium products market. Now, let’s talk about Tesoro’s plans with kulambo beyond mosquito netting, as well as the agricultural aspect of growing Philippine cotton.
At the time of the interview, the new wave of Philippine muslin has not yet been made available to the Philippine market. “I’m still about 70 percent to getting them to the required thinness. Let’s say around mid or late this year, hopefully.
” In an era of air conditioning, electric fans, and heck, plastic kulambos, is there even still a need for a fabric that’s famously challenging to produce? Yes. “Other than mosquito netting, fashion. I’m going to make them into thin Cubanos or gangster shirts.
I can embroider it and it’s nice and loose and we have a guy wear...
a sando underneath [with] jeans and boots and it’s so cool.” Tesoro added that he chose to situate his project in Ibaan, Batangas, because that’s where most of the country’s kulambo used to come from. “[I’m reviving it] at the source.
It’s not like I’m going to bring Inabel to them. That’s weird and disrespectful..
