Sunflower Basket Remembered

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