This tiny country composed of seven thousand islands is gifted with so many natural resources. The people have thrived on using natural products not only to feed on their own basic needs but to recycle them to their utmost potential. Think about the coconut tree: it is the source of a major export to other countries for its famed coconut oil. Not only that, but the lumber, leaves, coconut meat, and husk is used and has resulted to other multiple products. The coconut husk is one of the oldest and still popular material for today’s summer jewelry in what we call ‘coco beads’.

It is so intriguing and awesome to realize the ingenuity and creativity of the Philippine crafters. They can turn very simple, God-given natural bounty into furniture, bags, food, accessories, home furnishings, and so much more. They are experts at converting even scraps into what could be very pretty handicrafts and nothing seems to be wasted. To this day, most of these things are still manually crafted, with love.

I had quite an extensive work experience in this industry for over 15 years, just a few years after the phenomenal trend for natural jewelry was starting back in the eighties. There was so much demand for shell inlaid beads at that time! I started as a novice being assigned right into the manufacturing shops. These are small shops, more like small cottages turned into factories. The workers sweat and toil for so very little money but ultimately producing export quality goods. Hence, I had an extensive idea of the entire process.

Those shells we pluck from the ocean floors have been inlaid into beautiful, translucent jewelry, beads and accessories. The corals were once so exploited, however I’m happy to report that all coral harvesting was sternly put to a halt. The process of creating all those shell-inlaid beads is very labor intensive. I doubt that you could ever put them into any machinery since they are fragile. Coco is a material that is in itself inexpensive but the labor to produce them requires a lot of time. It is bleached and then easy to dye into colors. The bone and horn of the carabaos (water buffalo in the Philippines and primarily used for its meat) are usually discarded. However, these bi-products are now also being utilized for a lot of really great pendants and beads. Because of the limitation of its thickness, the smaller ones are solid and larger ones are mostly pasted. Corn husks and banana barks are pretty when wrapped around any wood – either in beads or bangles. The corn husks are easily dyed but the banana bark is pretty in itself with its natural coloration of browns. Sinamay is the raffia material which is wrapped in wood. It has been used for beads but is also fabulous in bangles or when wrapped around a larger, solid material. Buri seeds and betel nuts are cleaned, bleached, sanded, shaped, polished and presto – they turn into these pretty, all-natural small beads that range from 5 to 12mm. Then, there are the nito, bamboo, snakeskin, limestone, leaves, twigs, paper mache, batik, metals, clay, rattan, nuts, seeds and so much more!