The project Karubwaten It Tina is developed as community-based enterprise developing regenerative co-creation and learning led by Life College in Puerto Princesa who brought together local weavers and craftsmen from Tina community in Palawan in the Philippines and connected academics and researchers from the MA Regenerative Design, Central Saint Martins, UAL. This project is supported by the Forest Foundation Philippines and Britisch Council Philippines.

Introduction
Among the indigenous people groups engaged in weaving are the Tagbanuas found in the central and northern part of Palawan. Tagbanuas are known to be one of the oldest tribes in the world to exist 22,000 to 24,000 years ago living in balanced relationship and interdependence with the rainforests and local ecosystems.

The Tagbanwa, located in north and central Palawan, are the dominant ethnic group of that island. There are concentrations in Coron, Aborlan, and Puerto Princesa. One group of Tagbanua resides in sitio Tina, barangay Culandanum, Aborlan, Palawan. The village is located approximately 90.9 kilometers away from Puerto Princesa City, which provides the most accessible route via Napsan-Aporawan National Roads.

The Aborlan Tagbanua believe that nature and the spirit world are connected. Cultural practices and beliefs shape Tagbanua activities in terms of cultivation of crops, ritual practices that are embedded into Tagbanua life as there has not traditionally been a separation between the natural world and the supernatural world. (Fox,1982) The Tagbanua believe they are passing through and, therefore honor and respect the ecosystems that they call home. The forest they live with, are not merely resources but also partners and a form of sacred forests. (Thomas, 2017)

Palawan has changed rapidly over the past decade with the construction of new roads, new infrastructure for economic and touristm, as also changes affected by climate change, meanwhile the community relies on a range of agricultural, livestock, and crafts to sustain themselves but they are also impacted by economic, cultural and climate change impacting the long lived generational balance of the community. The local ecosystems are pivotal for sustaining their futures but also the ability to reach communities for trading products and crafts. The highest potential source of income for the Tagbanua are working with craft particularly woodworking, mat making, and basketry with the raw materials that are readily available to them. The community works with the seasonal opportunities of selling woven products, of which only a handful of elders and women who have mastered the craft. The number of pandan weavers is estimated at 10-15 women and yantok crafts makers at 2 men.


In Karubwaten It Tina the regeneration of the Tabanua futures was central, connecting communities from the inside and outside of the Aborlan area to inform in new ways how we learn from the land, its ecosystems and how a community-led cosmology and passed on skills can build a regenerative resilience in the stresses of the current world. While they have been aware of the weaving practices as passed on by earlier generations, key challenges that they face include sustaining their weaving sources for the use of future generations, innovating products and its designs, and expanding opportunities for livelihood and preservation of culture.

The Tagbanuas are known for a very rich cultural tradition, having their own language and scripts that some of the members of the tribe still know and use up to this day. Their sources of livelyhood are centred around 1. Hunting & gathering: wild boar; three types of honey; pandan and yantok, 2. Agriculture: rice (kaingin / slash and burn agriculture), root crops (kamote), some vegetables, 3. Weaving and crafts:  Screw pine variety of pandan for weaving and yantok for crafts.

In their weaving practices, they are known to use screw pine varieties of pandan as raw materials for mat, purse, bags, baskets and other craft products. “Craftsmen first collect pandan leaves, slice them into fine strips then sort for further processing. The whole process, from harvesting of raw materials to creating the finished product, is usually a tedious venture as everything is done manually” (Limson, 2015)

Limson, A.S. & Luces, J.L. (2015). Design, Fabrication and Testing of Pandanus Leaves Slitter – Presser. Philippine Metals, Vol. 2.

Thomas, Shannon E., "Documenting indigenous Tagbanua practices that support environmental conservation in Palawan, Philippines" (2017). Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations. 2643.

Fox, R.B. Religion and Society Among the Tagbanuwa of Palawan Island, Philippines. Manila, Philipinnes: National Museum. (1982).

Living and learning from the Land

Text rapport team Life College

Indigenous people have accumulated valuable traditional knowledge about nature and play a critical role in the sustainability of the ecosystem services through their sustainable practices. However, until today, this knowledge is often not recognized as a valuable tool towards environmental protection and resiliency. It is vital that along with the various anthropogenic pressures, natural disturbances, and the risks of climate change, the indigenous communities, especially the Tina weaver community has the capability to adapt to these environmental disturbances. 

Strengthening an interconnected connection between forestry governance and community actors is the first step to filling the void of translating the environmental rights of the indigenous people at the international level. It is because some indigenous members of the community remain unaware of the existing environmental laws and policies. Tools such as network mapping and innovation history could be useful to alleviate these barriers. What matters in this perspective is that the indigenous community should remain active in discussing issues related to the management, protection, and delineation of their ancestral lands.

(Tina, Palawan, Aborlan)

Raw Materials and harvest
The natural resources of the Tina weaver community are identified and protected through the Ancestral Domain Sustainable Development and Protection Plan ( ADSDPP), the Tina Ancestral Domain provides the community and weaver the natural resources they need for their livelihood. Barangay Culandanum is richly endowed with diverse plants and animals. A wide range of forest products is identified in the area sustaining both home consumption and the market needs of the residents. The physical and natural resources surrounding the community are abundant owing to vast areas of ancestral lands still covered in thick forest/vegetation. However, the available resources for livelihood are limited only for the tribe’s daily maintenance and consumption. In the case of the raw materials, both Pandan and Yantok, the weaving community rests on mountain ranges with abundant supply of raw materials. Since the process of harvesting raw materials like Pandan poses some danger to life as they go deeper into the forests, it is intuitive to encourage them to establish plantation areas near them.


Climate and soil type are ideal for plantation and weaving enterprises. The Tina community climate  is typical for the western side of Aborlan wherein there are pronounced dry (from November to April) and wet (the rest of the year) seasons. Generally, the soil  can be classified into rough mountain soil type which is suitable for forest growth and preservation purposes.

Pandan plantation and weaving workshop
With the support of this project and Life College a collective agreement and the formation of a sustainable land use and regenerative management plan had been developed that is aligned to the local and national government’s 2030 agenda.

Additionally, a workshop on sustainable land use and weaving practices had been developed with the community. In co-creation with students from the Life College in Palawan the Tina weaver community have developed and planted a Pandan location near the village in terms with regenerative permaculture principles. The leaders of the community developed a manual for land management and framework for using the weavers workshop location in the community.

(students planting the Pandan plantation)

Support has been given by improving tools for processing the material, and better spaces for processing and bringing back indiginous knowledge on dyeing material that have become lost in the practice of quick syntethic dyes.

The community developed and brought back knowledge that was in place but not practices and exploring how their ecosystem and producing of materials can be improved, affecting not only the quality of the products but moreso the quality of living and learning from the land and its ecosystem species.

(co-designed community weaver center )

The weaving center is situated in the middle of the Tina community, 160 meters above sea level and the pandan plantation area is 743 meters southeast from the weaving center with an elevation of 45 meters. The access route goes across the Tina community and the Culandanum Water Treatment Facility and then passes along the riverside. The aforementioned pandan plantation is approximated to cover 2,343 square meters.


The route has visible pathway on foot which is easy to follow and to walk on with very little to no obstruction along the way. The pathway is very accessible for the farmers when they are to haul equipment and harvest goods. Non-fruit bearing plants and lumber trees abound in the forest. There are few wild crawling creatures in the region, which is also quite humid and abundant of wild insects. The pandan plantation area is beside the river and is located 673 feet (205 meters) above sea level.

Pandan and Yantok as the primary raw materials for weaving. The most promising livelihood in the community is crafting. Of the women members of the Tina weaving community, most indulged in weaving practices that mainly utilise different types of Pandan leaves. On one hand, Pandan is mostly associated with women in the community because they are accessible for harvest from the wild. Pandan grows by densely thick forest, mountains, hills, and slopes with damp and fertile grounds. On the other hand, or locally known as yantok is a palm tree that belongs to the subfamily Calamoideae. Rattan has a vine-like characteristic since it scrambles through and over other vegetation. In Southeast Asian countries, like the Philippines, this species thrives in the open- to closed-canopy old-growth tropical forests. In Sitio Tina, rattan is commonly found near the riverbanks and plays the role of proactive covering for the forest, source of water, and maintaining soil moisture.

Pandan, Screw Pine or Pandanus is a palm-like, thorny, and wild plant with a variety of uses. This serves as raw material for weaving. Alternatively, they sell bundled and partially processed pandan strips. The estimated aggregate plantation size of pandan spans across thousands of hectares – as they grow naturally (wildly) and sporadically around Tina and its surrounding mountain ranges. The raw Pandan for weaving come from the forest. Gathering and processing of raw materials take place whole year round, especially when there is demand and local weather is suitable for harvesting.

Suitable young pandan leaves are first cut off from the shaft of the pandan plant. The harvester, mostly women, uses guess estimation to gather the required number of raw materials. They take what they need to use, and leave the shoot for growth of new buds. Sharp knife is used to remove the leaves from the shaft as well as de-thorn. From cutting of leaves until ready for weaving or selling as raw materials takes 1 to 3 full days. In gathering, the harvester faces potential danger.

While the forest has an abundant supply of pandan, gatherers face many dangers including being chased by wild animals, wasps (turong) among others. The harvested leaves are then dried under the sun until its color turns brown. On a usual sunny day in the village, it would take a half or a whole day to dry up the leaves.

By midday, the pandan should be dry and ready for weaving, otherwise it will be burnt or blacked when left out. Sometimes when the weather is not sunny, it can take about 2 days to dry the leaves. One sustainable practice that the weavers do is they only harvest as much as they need and they avoid stocking up materials. If they do so, the stock would only mold, for which they do not know the reason. The leaves are also ensured to be appropriately dried (saktong tuyo) especially when they need to stock it for a few days, or it will also mold.

The third step is the leaves are flattened or smoothened and cut called lilas using diangat, which is a cutting tool with 3 sharp blades. The blade is glided over the leaves several times before it is cut lengthwise. Each piece should be smooth and equal in length. Unequal ones are rejected. Once cut and smoothened, it is ready for the next step. The blades need to be very sharp because it could bend the leaf. Alternatively, a tin can can be used to strip the pandan.

Yantok is a palm tree tribe in the subfamily Calamoideae and a member of rattan (genus Calamus). In Sitio Tina, yantok is commonly found near the riverbanks. Similar with Pandan, the raw product preparation for yantok begins at harvesting the materials. There is plenty of supply in the area. From the community’s centre, all surrounding areas to the mountains is a hundred hectares of ancestral land where yantok grow naturally.

According to one respondent, “When I worked for Katala Foundation, I had the chance to reach the peak where the town of Narra could be seen. From here to that point, there is still an abundant supply of yantok. It would be difficult to consume everything.” They have tried planting yantok since the areas where they gather and harvest are still ‘thick.’ The growth of yantok is quick. When yantok fruits fall into the ground, they easily grow. Also, some would grow from its shoot.

There are plenty of varieties of yantok. Each variety is known by the locals through their leaves and their stems. Since they are familiar with them already, they can easily identify which ones to use for a particular product, even if those are cut into pieces. There is also no specific time to harvest yantok; and when they do, they only do if there are demands.

Usually, they leave their house at 7AM or depending on the time they needed to be back. It is also always better to harvest when it is not raining. The cutting process is known as ‘pagbuoyaken’ and the cleaning process is ‘pagbaros’ or ‘pag-agos.’

Pagbuoyaken (cutting) The next step is to cut or strip the yantok according to the product, the Tagbanua term for this is Pagbu’yaken. Afterwhich, cleaning or smoothening the surface parts is called ‘baros’.

Pagbaros (cleaning) The tool used in ‘pagbabaros’ is the ‘pisaw’, which appears like a small knife usually sharpened through stones. To date, pisaw is the only tool they could identify used in this craft, “Yes, our generation only saw Pisaw.” Once the yantok is clean and thin, it is now ready for use.

Towards engaged ecologies,  re-story-ation and Tina-led cosmologies.

Connecting maker communities, Tagbanua weavers and craft makers of Tina, Aborlan, Palawan and the online community of the Master Regenerative Design, Central Saint Martins, UAL

by Judith van den Boom

Karubwaten it Tina, is a craft project initiated by Life College with the Tagbanua weavers and craft makers of Tina, Aborlan, Palawan, the Philippines and strives towards engaged ecologies, connecting ecosystems, communities and a new generation that links craft, learning and futures in a regenerative way.  Karubwaten, meaning made by hands, is a community conversation using weaving as the language of knowing and constructing living relationships between land and the Tagbanua weavers.

Our online community from the Master Regenerative Design, Central Saint Martins, (UAL) was been invited into the journey of co-design to interweave craft and regenerative ethics from around the world.  Karubwaten it Tina gives agency to explore the meaning of ‘becoming collective’ and built a deeper understanding how making is integral to life and the future of the Tina ecology. The exchange formed through active engagement in online workshops where Tagbanua community gathered in Palawan to meet online with our MARD community. The first steps of the process was a process of welcoming each other in a conversation of exchange, introducing our ecosystems and the ways of how we practice community in the places we live.

(image, collaborative weaving Tina)

In the Karubwaten project it was central to slow down the design process in order to reconfigure what is means to participate and recognise the importance of building connection through communal making and storytelling.  As participants we all come from individual stories and contexts. We are shaped by passed-on knowledge and our local circumstances. The way we understand the world is often led by the stories told. Weaving restoration is in first place a process of taking time of listening to each other in order to arrive in a deeper understanding of our ecosystems. Learning about local species and life processes allows to grow new connection and a process of re-story-ation (Kimmerer, 2013) Activating a process of deep listening and making was key for our online community to learn from the Tagbanua weavers and craft makers and connect with the stories from place and species. The project identified a critical discussion point on who takes charge in a design process, on what questions are asked, and what stories are shared. What is just, equal and right for the process and aims of the community? Who steers the story of place? The Tagbanua weavers shared a Tina-led process through making and how it is passed on for generations and impacted  how they live with ecosystems in place. The design processes and hierarchy of doing reversed, shifting away from the model where design proposes from the outside and move towards understanding the sensitivity of place, people and materials and growing from the inside.

Co-design from an indigenous Tina-led perspective shifts the process of design, and starts with being invited into a community and built commons through the making of relations. The Tina-led process taught MARD what storytelling means, shifting away from our projected assumptions and how stories ‘are the hands’ that make the work. The hands that carry knowledge from generation to generation. The Tina-led process created space for being the other and set in the curiosity of learning about the other.

Co-design talks about a participatory process where everyone is involved, yet the Tina-led processes shifted more into a companion-designing methodology, where as online community we would work and nurture the stories and skills that are already in place. Shifting from co-designing, a mode of active proposing, to a form of ‘companioning’, of active presence through sharing experiences that leadcross-pollination and conversation. In the process of ‘companioning’ everyone takes part as a listener, and through material experiences the process enables a deeper integral understanding of place, people and possibility. (Mang, Reed 2012)

The companioning process respects the human, local, cultural and ecological understandings of place and works with the story of place. As online ecosystem we could share what making means for us, how our community lives with the land, connecting harvest, food, and how we built relations. Through making by hands, the MARD online community could tap into place, by making rice packages (puso-puso), harvesting grasses at home, and connect online in collective weaving exploration with the women sharing how they weave.
(image online weaving puso-puso )

The process was a rhythm of ecological and material stories connecting our various locations; stripping hazel in Cumbria, indigenous dyeing processes in Brazil, weaving bark shoes from Russia, exploring Pandan weaving through Chinese traditional knotting, translating Pandan through embellishments and exploring weaving through the lens of Pandan, Yantok, Hazel, Birch, Urucum and other local biodiversity lenses that we connected from.

Through the frameworks of permaculture and relational learning the project process guided how we understand growing, harvesting, dyeing and creation with Pandan and Yantok, plant species who became learning agents connecting local knowledge and ecological representation. Interweaving communities coming from different cultural, political, economic and ecological backgrounds brings in the deeper questions and reflection on ethics of learning and listening. How we understand these ethics through the lens of regenerative design?

(image, online meeting sessions)
For our MARD community this was a learning process and reflection on the role of design.  Who is the designer in the process, who decides, designs, and frames the narrative? How can we shift from the who to a more centric mode of creation? In regenerative design the narrative of place is in the hands of the community, of the people and species in place and as the external ‘species’ we are forming an ecotone, a space where species meet, where nature, culture and knowledge merges interpretations and build resilience. As regenerative practitioners we are part of temporal ecotones and nurture the (bio)diversity in place. (East, 2019) The Tagbanua weavers and craft makers of Tina met the MARD online community in a digital ecotone, create a space for different makers to meet, entering with a shared curiosity to learn from the life experience of others. 

A living system is not static and the ecosystem of Palawan and the Tina community has lived for generations with the continuous evolving relationship, relying on the ecological health to sustain human communities and local economies. So, how we can learn as online community from a Tina-led cosmology? The Tagbanua weavers and craft makers of Tina show the importance of being situated in our processes, in how we are human, in how we shape our communities and build in spaces for plural voices, extending the table of stakeholders and processes in how we design. The Karubwaten project informed a dialogical reflective process that was not shying away from the sensitivity and ethics of place and making that were produced through our meetings.

(image, sharing online ecosystems)

As humans we live in entangled relationships with our ecosystems, and relationships with how we view the ecology needs to change as nothing can live in isolation, not even the human, as we are part of the ecology. Our human species are part of a living planet, we impact local ecosystems, and have impacted in most colonial and unethical practices in our past and present. So, how do we move forward and use regenerative design to redirect the story of possibility, connection and local thriving ecosystems? The Karubwaten project defined a more attentive and intuitive practice, shifting from aims to deliver products to entering first into processes of learning, and building relations as humans, as makers, as species, breaking down the barriers through collective hands and sharing local ways of seeing and learning from the ecosystems around us.

Working with a place-based relational ethos and ethics asks to build authentic relations from reciprocity through deep listening, observing and un-making. Learning from situated regenerative relations teach design practice about the complexity of interrelations and create space to identify new terms of engagement and exchange. As the Tina community shared weaving and making, our online community listened into ways of practicing and new understandings of how we interweave relations, ideas and dialogues in the making of design.

Mang, P., Reed, B. (2012). Designing from place: a regenerative framework and methodology, Building Research & Information

Kimmerer, R. W. (2013). Gary Nabhan, in Braiding Sweetgrass Braiding Sweetgrass. Milkweed Editions.

East, M. (2019). "Maximising the Edges of Natural and Human Systems: The Case for Sociotones" Sustainability 11, no. 24: 7203. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11247203

Weaving shared values?

by Dr Britta Boyer

How do you weave shared value into life through remote learning[s] with a virtually created studio space between the Tina Weaving Community [situated in the mountain ranges of Central Palawan] and a small multi-located team from (UAL) MA Regenerative Design?


(Figure 1, Authors experimenting with the weaving of values.

Some contexts:
I was invited as a guest towards the end of a two-year project to consider the ethics of interaction through weekly virtual meetups to weave my understanding of this complex value chain. In observing [with the UAL team] and the Tina weaving community creative processes, gaining insights into the cultural and historical context of their weaving practices and seeing the between spaces of interculturality, I reflected upon three things: (1) what does it mean to radically listen to the remote community and understand their needs within the exchange, (2) how do we truly dispel the [unequal] tensions through democratic dialogue, how do you genuinely embrace different ontological aesthetic-moral assumptions (3) how to create an ethics and politics which are both generous and receptive, as well as move beyond current socio-political and economic systems based on extraction and inequalities to create viable alternatives. Daniel Wahl (2018) describes the alternatives as life-sustaining societies that aim to stop further damage and seek to look with new eyes. In my own work, I describe transpositions or a position change (Boyer, 2022). The ethical position change here would be to create value in a regenerative supply chain where suppliers become more like business partners. Is the collaboration ready for that level of responsibility? It requires a commitment to increase awareness of unfair trading exchanges within communities so they may push back against the repressive global 'free markets' of today and, at the same time, reduce dependence.

Reflection by Bruna Cerasi,

São Paulo, Brazil

I had already had exchange experiences with other traditional communities, especially the Guarani and the Yawalapiti indigenous communities in Brazil, the country where I was born and live. The experience of online collaboration in this type of format was something new for me and it impressed me positively in terms of engagement with the community and outside collaborators. It was fascinating to see the community's ability to weave materials and their relationship with the community itself and its meanings.

One of the objects that fascinated me most was one presented by the community and described by them as made in the shape of a heart, (puso-puso) which, in the way I heard it, has a relationship with the way they see food and its relationship of affection and nutrition.

(heart-shaped puso-puso package)

In fact, food was a very interesting part of the exchange as it was both a moment of connection and discovery of the different contexts of each person who participated in the collaboration.
The food really seemed to speak a lot in terms of place and connection, but the woven objects had a relationship beyond food.

It was very interesting to notice the similarities in terms of processes, material development and weaving skills between them and the indigenous communities in Brazil while I was sharing some videos from local weaving communities with them.

(Brazilian indigenous weaving skills)

It seemed to me that there might be similar worldviews influencing behaviours and social aspects among many of the traditional communities but also the abiotic similarities may have an influence.

The fact that both Brazil and Philippines are in in a tropical climate make them have biotic similarities such as, for example, the presence of the annatto, which proved to be, during exchange, an element present in both cultures and used for different meanings such as cooking and dying. Being in contact with such connected, motivated, and skilled people was an inspiring and enriching experience which I am mostly grateful for.

(sharing annatto)

Reflection by Miao Li, Arnhem, The Netherlands

It’s fascinating for me as a maker to see these skilled weavers and their work. With just one material and the simple principle of weaving, they created a variety of techniques, patterns, and forms. I truly admire the collaboration between the people, the plant life and the local ecosystem, which is very inspiring for me to rethink my position as a maker and my relationship with Earth.

(sharing weaving )

Reflection by Stanley McNulty, Cumbria, UK

Over the past few months, working with the Palawan weaving community has been a huge personal privilege. As a fellow maker, I found it particularly exciting to work with a thriving indigenous community with a passionate for preserving local craft skills, and material knowledge. This was something which I found we all had in common.

(sharing local ecosystems )

I felt hugely inspired by the ease at which the community worked with their materials. Literally, ‘growing’ these precious objects from the ground up.

(hazel  design process )
At the same time, in my own practice, I found working with the Pandan and Yantok hugely rewarding. I particularly enjoyed having the opportunity to experiment with them on my loom at home and sharing my practice working with Hazel. Overall, I’d like to think that the both ourselves and the community found this collaborative experience hugely rewarding!

(Maki Obara design hemp process )
(pandan dye process )

(bird weavier techniques informing weaving )

Learning weaving techniques, connections, food preferences, words, traditions of the Tina community and other participants of the project let me accept and re-connect to my own roots and different forms of co-existence. I'm in love with the idea of cultural transformation based on learning from non-human communities and human communities that didn't lose the contact with the environment.

Weaving a new generation

Text rapport team Life College

The traditional handicraft has been developed out of basic human necessity. However, beyond this definitive philosophy, traditional craftsmanship is more than just a function of need. The fact that such types of end-products represent the unique symbol and expressions of a community or culture. In developing countries like the Philippines, it is manifested through indigenous craftsmanship and materials. Furthermore, traditional handicraft is a form of human creativity combined with the science of art and work of skills out of multiple ideas with the use of available materials. For example, basketry which is one form of traditional handicraft can be traced back to time immemorial. One of the many skills required to produce handicrafts is weaving and this reflects in culture, community, and tradition.

Whilst it is relatively unknown when exactly the practice of weaving within the different tribal communities started in the Philippines, it is believed that it is being practised almost all throughout the archipelago.
However, this industry has been known, passing across many generations and forms as a vital component of the Filipino heritage.

It is also believed that the first archaeological evidence of weaving culture in the country was found between 1255 to 605 BCE in Cagayan and Palawan. Between 1565 and 1850, the weaving culture in the Philippines was brought to many European countries as an integral part of colonial intervention. Indigenous innovative knowledge, products, culture, and services were embedded in many handwoven products which carried, decoded, and transformed the artistic and cultural values of different tribes in the Philippines. 

Because weaving embodies the expression of arts, culture, and tradition of the indigenous people, this dimension must be tapped in the context of long-term preservation of the inherited nature of traditional knowledge. Karubwaten It Tina’s ultimate goal is to ensure the passage of weaving knowledge from one generation to the next so the Tina weaving community thrives in a regenerative way, connecting idigenous knowledge in past, present and future.

Pandan an Rattan/Yantok product information

In this section, we present the hand-woven products of the Tagbanua weaver of Tina, Aborlan, Palawan and their high quality developments on weaving techniques, developing new design, patterns and applications.  

Pandan woven products. Below is an inventory of Pandan and Yantok woven products. The community developed more sensitive dyeing techniques, tracing back indigenous knowledge and skills, as also implementing these in the form of the products and patterns, resembling ecosystem symbols, colours and shapes such as flora and fauna that is present, or potentially endangered in Palawan. By building in the ecosystem as narrative for color and design development the Tina weaver community is able to preserve and integrate their cultural knowledge and Karubwaten, telling the stories through the weaving hands.

During this project new Pandan products have been developed, exploring new patterns representing local ecosystems, as also weaving kits for students so encourage overlay weaving and teach a younger generation the skills that are inherend to Palawan and the Tina Weaving community, also new Rattan products have been developed such as baskets, small vessels and flora/fauna home accessoires such as fish and flowers have been created to build an archive of cultural and ecological references for the Tina community.

Banig or Mats. This beautiful hand-woven mat craft is usually produced in different sizes. They called this banig and mainly made of pandan leaves from a variety of screwpine, known as bangkuan or abuan. The Banig created by Tagbanua from Tina community are special by its intricate patterns and bright colours

Tingkop. Baskets or tingkop are commonly found in every Tagbanua household. Typically, they are made of woven pandan leaves or yantok, framed as storage of agricultural products and other goods. The sizes of tingkop made by the Tina community vary from small, medium, and large. Usually, a double layer of pandan leaves is used to strengthen and ensure the durability of the product.

Bayong. Colloquially referred to as bayong, these bags that are made of pandan leaves are carefully woven by women weavers in the Tina community. Bayong has been traditionally used as receptacles to carry small market products such as fruits, vegetables, crops, meat, and marine shellfish products.

Pitaka. One of the simplest and easiest products to produce and sell, from the Tina Weaving Community, is the coin purse. This small woven wallet made of pandan leaves, locally known as pitaka, could be finished in less than an hour. Pitaka are handy and formed by creating two pieces of woven pouch put together to enclose the purse

Rattan (yantok) product.
Rarong is a traditional carrier primarily used to carry light to heavy-weight harvested agricultural products. It is carried on the back using straps sourced from a bark of a sayapo tree that is also found abundantly in their area. To complete the product, a sackcloth is placed inside a finished rarong for the safekeeping of goods in the carrier.