The Kandama Story
It means power.
In the native Tuwali language, Kandama means power, which encapsulates what we see in the communities of women we weave together.
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Kandama was founded on empowering the women of Julongan by providing economic opportunities for them, helping them preserve the tradition of handloom weaving, and allowing them to keep nurturing the environment that sustains them. We believe that these weaves can also empower women everywhere by fusing heritage and style into modern, contemporary pieces.
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Kandama is a social enterprise incubated in 2016 by the Singapore International Foundation with the support of McKinsey & Company under the Young Social Entrepreneurs Program. Under the said program, we carved our social mission, and to this day, we apply commercial strategies to make its social impact sustainable.
Kandama organized women of Julongan village in Kiangan, Ifugao to start their organization of weavers. Since our inception, we have established two temporary weaving centers, four weaving workshops, one of which is in partnership with the Philippine Textile and Research Institute, and a Vision-Mission Goal Workshop using Appreciative Inquiry. Under this center, the women of Julongan continue their craft and help provide for the needs of their families.
In 2017, Kandama was restructured and incorporated by its founder Victor Baguilat Jr. while he was undergoing the Leadership Excellence Achievement Program (LEAP) of the Organizational Change Consultants International Inc. (OCCI). During the said program, we collaborated with various designers to make woven products more appealing to the modern market and expanded our products to include shoes and bags.
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To this day, Kandama continues to celebrate the art of weaving and wishes to bring weaves into modern fashion. Since our inception, we have conducted and participated in premiere fashion events here and abroad such as Likhang Pamana in Hong Kong, Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival, and Paris Indigenous Fashion Week.