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Samoki Weavers
Summary
Samoki top
Samoki is a small village located in Mountain Province on Philippines main island, Luzon. The Igorots, native people of the mountains live very close to their ancestral traditions. A majority of them are mountain peasants and cultivate rice in terraces as it has been done for centuries. In these regions, only one harvest can be managed per year. Samoki is traditionally a weavers’ village. Weaving is part of the village’s history and still one of the main activities of the women after field work. There are close to fifty weavers in the village. These women weave on the rainy days, when field work is not possible.
The weavingstop
The weavings are still used in their primitive form, that is to make skirts for the women (called tapis) and "strings" for the men. The design is originally from Samoki and represents alternatively a warrior, a shield and a spear. The women still use the back strap weaving methods, sitting on the floor and doing everything manually. The resulting weavings are extremely solid.
The Samoki weavings exist today in many different colors and forms
- Bag-packs,
- Travelling bags,
- Purses,
- Wallets,
- Monk bags,
- Eye glasses cases,
- Pencil cases.
Alouette's actiontop
The association, having managed to gather financial aid, was able to create a new label for this specific production. Today, a market research has been conducted by a French volunteer. Its object was the opening of a store in Samoki where the weavings could be sold.