The Community - Hacienda Crafts Co.

We believe that nature can provide for everything that we need in this life. Nature is our abundant source, our enduring healer, and our welcoming home. Because of this, it is our responsibility to conserve and preserve our natural environment. At Hacienda Crafts we make sure that the sources of our raw materials are sustainable, and that suppliers work to replenish what we use. We also engage numerous sources to prevent the depletion of materials in one neighborhood, thus allowing time for re-growth in every locality. And where we can, Hacienda Crafts moves manufacturing closer to raw material source to avoid unnecessary transport that enlarge our carbon footprint. 

Our commitment to the people in our “hacienda” got us started. We wanted to give them a decent and dignified life. This was hard to do working as farm hands where four months in a year there is no work. We undertook their training in weaving, lamp-making, and furniture construction. Today, over 500 families in our local community have become partners of Hacienda Crafts. As micro-entrepreneurs, they produce our hand-crafted pieces that are shipped to all corners of the globe. Because of this entrepreneurial engagement, people earn much better and their families are nourished well. This has also stemmed child labor in the farm. With higher income, families can now send their kids to school for a brighter future.

So much can be told of a people by their indigenous handicrafts. That is true for Negros Island and elsewhere in the Philippines where the mountains and the sea bless us with weaving traditions. Upland farmers had a way of lacing sturdy baskets to hold harvested produce. So, too, did the fishermen whose nets were woven to be artfully supple so they can sway with the waves without snapping. These weaving traditions now find a place in the knots and ties that bind our lamps. We even go further back in time for our furniture and furnishings, finding inspiration in the centuries-old Tinalak weave of the T’boli Tribe. Hacienda Crafts preserves all these so the next generation may find wisdom and passion.