The thread that keeps breaking
Raquel’s Piña Cloth Products was established on early 1992 as a private company. As Piña weaving runs in the family started from her ancestors, Mrs. Raquel was able to master their cultural heritage and put up as business to provide more livelihoods for her community. In 1989, as faith would have it, Mrs. Raquel R. Eliserio returned to Aklan to attend a training on Piña weaving to further enhance her skills and knowledge about her cultural heritage. Months of practice and focus made her fully master her craft through the help and guidance of her grandmothers.
Mesmerized by the business prospect of Piña weaving, Mrs. Eliserio took gamble and sold her live stocks to set up a “haeab-ean”, a weaving center, in her home in Feliciano, barrio of Balete town. Started from pineapple farms and weaving centers, it became a home of 30 weavers and 50 farmers, scrapers, knotters, and warpers as culture bearers in the province of Aklan. Today, Raquel and her family who are also weavers have more than a hundred looms, almost a hundred regular weavers, and more than a hundred piña fiber knotters. She was able to established weaving centers in the province.
After serving the weaving industry for many years, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) acknowledged her passion and hailed her as Cultural master for Piña weaving. Acknowledging her skills in weaving piña fiber, the Aklan State University and Philippine Fiber Industry (PhilFIDA) approached Mrs. Eliserio to train and help develop other weavers in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental and in Puerto Princessa, Palawan. But the pupils she’s the proudest are her children, Christian, Carlo, and Delara, who she says, “know how to weave in principle.”
Our mission is to provide livelihood to weavers in communities and inspire them to innovate high-end products, to continue the Aklanon culture and tradition in weaving industry and to nurture the Filipino weaving culture and tradition through our regular training programs and promotions. The company Raquel’s Piña Cloth Products, by means of our handwoven fabrics aims to prove the unending tradition and culture of our generations and shows the timeless beauty of the queen of Philippine textiles, the Piña.
As part of our advocacy to support our local community, our company is a proud member of HABI the Philippine Textile Council and supplier of different well-known piña textile companies in the country and abroad. Through our commitment to help and nurture our weaving Industry, we are able to produce best and finely woven textiles and won prestigious awards like the national Lourdes Montinola Piña Weaving Competition and Global Eco Artisan Awards in California.