IN an attempt to catch world attention and peg its claim as the home of the best buri fiber weavers in the world, Inabanga embarks on an ambitious project, to unroll 1.6 kilometers of continuously hand-woven raffia to highlight their bid.
The mile-long raffia would be woven on traditional handloom and would be publicly displayed on June 29, when the organizers hope they could chart a world record for the town.
With their quest for the world’s longest continuous hand woven raffia title, Mayor Jose Jono Jumamoy also hoped they could pull world attention to the town’s weaving industry that has given their craft-makers a prime fiber for modern household decoration.
By that, Mayor Jumamoy believes they could mainstream the buri fiber weaving industry, which has remained in the town’s economic backrooms for quite sometime into a remarkable prime economic banner.
The youthful mayor also revealed that by pitching for the world record, they could also expose the Inabangnon creativity and craftsmanship.
For more that a century, raffia loom-weaving in Inabanga has stayed as a small industry until the local government, with partners looked seriously at developing the industry into a reliable alternative livelihood, admits Trade Regional Director Asteria Caberte, during the raffia gallery launching.
With the Departments of Trade and Industry. Science and Technology and Technical Education Skills Development Authority, Inabanga has successfully transformed their lowly hinabol into an interesting product which has slowly defined the taste of modern lifestyle.
Raffia has become the common material for placemats, table runners, custom handbags, fancy dresses and a perfect raw for hand-crafted novelty items.
After training their weavers by applying new techniques and modern designs to their loom-wovens, local craftsmen can now boast of firm-level production capacity, Jumamoy shared during the gallery launching of their record endeavor.
The industry has so far engaged 1910 weavers in the town’s 40 of 50 barangays, data from the DTI reveal.
Of this, some 5730 work in the support industry, planting buri, harvesting young fronds, stripping, bleaching, dying, warping, wefting, slitting, knotting, tying and knotting the fiber to be woven.
With records putting an average of 2-3 days before weavers can complete a ten meter raffia roll, Inabanga’s best weavers peg in 4-5 meters a day.
Even 36 years old volunteer weaver Juvelyn Dinolang shared it would not be hard to weave more than the projected target of a mile-long roll by June 28. (rachiu/PIA)
