Previously, he used nito (vine trimmings) to decorate the outside of the headgear and sourced it from Cagayan, but when his relative who supplied him with the raw materials passed away, he decided to experiment with more locally accessible materials. Each handcrafted tabungaw is the product of years of study and careful attention to the elements that make up the entire piece.
Since he learned the craft, he has not stopped innovating. His increased visibility is also partly the result of the local agricultural fairs organized by the local government where he takes out a booth every year to showcase his work. This year, inspired by increasing orders, he plans to increase the area of his farm dedicated to gourd planting. In a good year and blessed with good weather, he can make up to 100 pieces. His output is also limited by his harvest of gourds. Sometimes, he wants to give up because it’s hard work, but he doesn’t do it, for fear that the art will end with him. He has had to turn down large orders because he has no one to help him, and in any case, there is no one who matches his level of skill. His craft demands a lot of personal input from him because there is hardly any way for him to source the materials he needs for his work unless he makes them himself. He uses only simple hand tools that he designed himself and he is involved in each stage of the production. It takes at least seven days to finish one tabungaw, assuming that all the materials are available. Crafting the tabungaw from planting and harvesting the upo, refining the uway (rattan) that make up the lining of the tabungaw, weaving the puser (bamboo) that serves as the accent for the work, and finishing the work takes up a lot of time. But during the months that his land is not planted to rice and tobacco, or caring for his herd of cows, he devotes his land to planting upo (family Cucurbitaceae), which he then transforms into the traditional tabungaw. Most of the year is spent working the land to coax a good harvest to enable him to send his five children to school.
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Even Teofilo and his son only own one tabungaw each.Īlthough he has been a master artisan since he learned how to make gourd casques and weave baskets from his grandfather at the age of 15, Teofilo is still principally a farmer. They are so sturdy that generally, farmers need to own only one at a time. With the proper care, a well-made tabungaw can last up to three to four generations, and the ones created by Teofilo are among the best there are. His clients have worn his work, sent them as gifts to their relatives abroad, and showed them off as a masterpiece of Filipino craftsmanship. Hundreds have sought him out at his home to order their own native all-weather headgear. Through his own efforts, through word of mouth, and through his own participation in an annual harvest festival in his local Abra, a lot of people have discovered about the wonders of the tabungaw as a practical alternative. The inside is lined with finely woven rattan matting, and the brim sports a subtle bamboo weave for accent.īecause he takes pride in wearing his creations, Teofilo has gotten many orders as a result. A closer look would reveal that it is made of the native gourd, hollowed out, polished, and varnished to a bright orange sheen to improve its weather resistance. Maria and Vigan in Ilocos Sur, and as far as Laoag in Ilocos Norte sit up and take notice of his unique, functional and elegant headpiece that shields him from the rain and the sun. People in the nearby towns of the province, in neighboring Sta. Each time Teofilo Garcia leaves his farm in San Quintin, Abra, he makes it a point to wear a tabungaw.
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