Producers in Philippines
Lampara House
The Producers
“Lampara House (House of Lights)" is a sewing group of Filipino single mothers. “Lampara" of Lampara House` “lamp" is a Tagalog word that means lamp in English, and was named with the idea that the women light up the house (the world).
W.I.N. (Women’s Independent Network), the predecessor of Lampara House, was a group of women who traveled to Japan to work and raise children (JFC – Japanese Filipino Children)who were born with Japanese father. . This organization was founded by Filipino single mothers. The purpose of the organization is to create jobs for single mothers who were to receive child support from the father of their children for various reasons.
In order to develop its activities, the organization established a new workshop with a showroom in 2012 and started as Lampara House. Today, not only the mothers of JFC but also the single mothers from impoverished areas have joined the group to produce products using traditional Filipino textiles and natural materials.
The Products
Although Lampara House is a group that specializes in sewing, it also aims to preserve traditional techniques and support the producers by using materials from the Philippines in the best way possible.
The material used for Lampara House bags, “T’nalak” is dyed and hand-woven from the fibers of the abaca (Manila hemp) plant, which takes several months to finish astretch of fabric before it becomes a cloth. Igorot (meaning “mountain people" in Tagalog) is the cloth used for pouches and other items, is also a traditional weaving technique of the hill tribes of northern Luzon. Each Lampara House product has its unique history and producer’s story.
Toward Independence within the Philippines
Lampara House has been manufacturing products for sale in Japan as partner organization of AWEP since its predecessor, W.I.N. After Lampara House was established, we realized that in order to continuously develop as an organization, it is important to be the organization that could build network and do business in the community and reciprocate by creating jobs in the community Currently, we are expanding our activities by opening a stall at a local open-air market every weekend to sell our products even collaborating with eco stores and NGOs in Manila to design our products.
The dream of the women of Lampara House is “to create jobs for local single mothers who needs a job just like us work together with them and eventually to make them independent in the future”..