Negros Trade Fair to honor Visayan resilience, creativity

The 29th Negros Trade Fair is coming to town. From September 24 to 28, this highly anticipated, long-running event showcasing the best of the best from the land of smiles will find home at the Glorietta Activity Center in Makati.

Promising to bring the finest food, fashion, furniture arts and crafts from Negros, its chosen venue also allows accessibility and people traffic for patrons both old and new.

Recovered and reused

With this year’s theme, “Smiles Beyond Borders,” the trade fair puts the focus on Visayans' resilience after the recent calamities that struck the region.

The organizers visited neighboring communities in Bicol, Cebu, Masbate, Negros Oriental, Iloilo, Capiz, Aklan and Antique for raw materials, in the hope of generating livelihoods in the earthquake- and typhoon-devastated areas.

Created from shells collected from the coasts, driftwood and fallen logs, and gathered pandan leaves and coconut shells, the products set to be discovered at Glorietta are all a result of a bright optimism after calamity.

Hacienda Crafts, a collective that uses traditional craftsmanship to create contemporary products, will showcase a macrame pendant lamp that merges the woven baskets of San Remigio, Cebu with Negros’ romantic thread work.

Tumandok Crafts turned coconut wood sourced from San Dionisio, Iloilo into sturdy yet graceful furnishings inspired by the typhoon.

Artisan will feature "Yolanterns," lanterns made from coconut shells from Leyte.

In style

Fashion labels will also be at the fair. Marayo, a brand representing its municipal namesake in Negros Occidental, will feature a collection of neckpieces and cuffs adorned with Cebuano shells.

Kiculo Crafts, meanwhile, used tribal techniques to create its Bantayan Tote, made using woven pandan.

Art and food

Whimsical Bacolod artist Jojo Vito commemorates the region’s festive spirit with his Festival Dolls Collection, adorned with shells from Cebu’s Bantayan and Molocaboc islands.

The Negrense Volunteers for Change Foundation will exhibit “The Story of Maria Luisa,” a series of mosaic collectibles depicting the life of a two-year-old orphan from Palo, Leyte.

Also not to be missed are the region's food offerings, headlined by the original chicken inasal of Negros Occidental, as well as sweet pastries that made the province the country’s confection capital.

For 29 years the Negros Trade Fair has always strived to outdo itself, and this year the organizers promise a bigger and better exhibit that will leave Manileños wanting more. — BM, GMA News

The Negros Trade Fair will be held at the Glorietta Activity Center, Gloriettal Mall, Makati City, from Sept. 24 to 28.