#sumlang

Sitting idle by Camalig town’s Sumlang lake is Socorro’s, a Filipino restaurant owned and managed by the Napa Family. Boasting with rich authentic Bicolano flavors and an array of delectable Filipino cuisine, Socorro’s captures the familiar and takes you to a provincial sojourn while dining in an ancestral-themed ambiance by a serene lakeside setting with Mt. Mayon volcano sunbathing in the background.  

[This is the last post of my Albay Wanderland series.]

The brief was simple. Go to Albay and find its culinary heart. Like the early conquistadores of the New World, we succeeded. What I tasted was beyond spice. It’s a wanderland of a sort.

–

In this day and age of tech savviness, digitalization is taking over fast. There are precedented reports of death — by digital — from music to film, from print publications to photography. Even the big names in the auto industry are now delving into a possibility of developing and making self-driving cars using artificial intelligence. And probably anything digitalization can lay its hands with.

But despite this event, there are still who prefers the traditional or an analog way of doing things. Thus, I pay homage to these skilful artisans who prefer the tactile approach over a process that can make their life easier.

–

You are in a Crate&Barrel store, specifically in the kitchenware department. You’re looking for items to compliment your newly-renovated kitchen. As you roamed around, you found these stack of abacá (Manila hemp) placemats and coasters, and you said: These are perfect for my Asian-inspired kitchen. Gotta have these. Thank you, Crate&Barrel! And the cash register’s happy tune sounded once more. But, does someone know how these products came to be and ended up in one’s home?

Barangay Sumlang in Camalig, Albay is where Natural Carpet Industry (NCI) is situated. This factory is where some of the local and global brands, like Crate&Barrel, have their abacá products made, exported and sold anywhere in the world. Also, a side trip to NCI, a 6-km proximity from Sumlang Lake with a view of Mt. Mayon, would make an ideal “pasalubong” stop-over.

Felipe Napa, Jr., an Albayanon entrepreneur, and owner of Natural Carpet Industry toured us in his factory. Our first stop was the showroom where all abacá hand-crafted items — from a kitchen to home furnishing and wall decor to lighting fixtures — is on display. Napa shared with us his humble beginnings on how NCI was set up in 1995 until his product designs were recognized in the international community.

After the tour, we head out to his factory just a few feet right across the showroom. The first section was the Quality Control (QC) area where most of the women do the cutting off excess fibre strands, sewing Crate&Barrel tags onto the finished products, and final product checking before it goes out to shipping.

Further back down the factory is where most of the men, and a handful of women, are located doing the abacá color dying or processing, weaving, assembly and steel frame construction for big furniture pieces.

After the tour, I came to a realization that no matter how successful your business is; or how good a designer you are; one’s goals, visions, and designs wouldn’t be materialized without these men and women — the artisans — the true assets of a company. Each finished product they produced was a piece of their story imprinted; a fragment of their life etched on — may it be a tragic one, a sorrowful chapter, or just a simple dream of hope for a better life — these products are their life’s extensions. 

So, next time you purchased something elegantly “hand-crafted” or a lovely “hand-made” piece of work, think of these men and women who produced it with their bare hands. They expect nothing special in return.