21 years ago, a young boy who loves to roam in his town’s
countryside dreamt of turning agricultural farm leftovers into revenue and
livelihood. With a liberal and artistic
inclination he created a design and corroborated with local craftsmen to
finally transform coconut husks and some indigenous materials into a work of
art. They called it sunflower basket.
Playful and bullish in his dream, he then brought the
sunflower basket to higher ground. A
local Jaycee member, he then pushed sunflower basket as a Jaycee project which
will provide jobs for his corroborators and potential local industry for the
people of Nagcarlan.
Sourcing for some market appreciation, the Sunflower basket
landed on Manila FAME at the CITEM’s National exposition of products. Sunflower basket was adopted by an exporting
firm, Adorica International and included in their product collection hopeful to
gain some international market reception.
Amazingly, American and European markets adored the Sunflower
basket. A breakthrough for its uniqueness
and exotic identity, Sunflower basket become a winner at Manila FAME Katha
Award and grabbed the major award at 1992 Golden Shell Award of
Excellence. Sunflower basket was
launched into instant stardom.
With 30,000 sets initial orders coming from Europe and
America, the Sunflower basket truly gave more than enough opportunities to the town
folks of Nagcarlan. Succeeding months
proved to be more favorable with more international orders which the town folks
eventually cannot accommodate anymore.
To cope with flooding orders coming from abroad, Adorica International
extended production source from nearby provinces of Quezon, Rizal, Batangas and
Mindoro. This young boy has signed up in the company as Product Developer and taught
techniques in making Sunflower baskets.
And the rest was history…..Sunflower basket was a big hit
and has given income opportunities to its people.
The boy, the sunflower basket and the livelihood it brought
to the town of Nagcarlan.
Orders of the Sunflower baskets finally ended 1997.
F.A.M.E. - Fashion and Accessories Market
Exposition
CITEM - Center for International Trade
Expositions and Missions
