Dobby weaving technique can replicate and/or revive some long-forgotten designs in Cordilleran art of weaving, says an owner of a weaving business in a Mt. Province town.
During a seminar-workshop on dobby weaving technique conducted recently by textile technology experts from the Philippine Textile Research Institute (PTRI) in Sagada, Mt. Province, Ezra Aranduque, owner of Sagada Weaving, saw the potential of said technique in replicating such traditional Cordilleran designs as "pinilian" and birdseye, or geometric patterns with a dot at each center, which have eventually vanished from hand-woven fabrics produced in the region. In an interview with Aranduque, he explained that the said designs were so intricate that the weavers spent more than one month to produce 28 meters of hand-woven fabric.
A mechanical attachment on a loom, the dobby controls the harnesses, or the frames holding the heddles in position, to allow the weaving of geometric designs.
Through dobby weaving, creating and reproducing designs, other than the more intricate ones, take lesser time-from a daily average of 3 to 4 meters of fabric a day, each weaver is seen to finish 5 meters in one day. The dobby loom can weave geometric designs up to 24 warp patterns, according to Jovita A. Hayin, supervising science research specialist at PTRI. By adopting this weaving technique, Aranduque is hopeful to increase production by at least 30 percent.
PTRI introduced the use of dobby loom to a group of weavers in Sagada after Aranduque asked the Institute to upgrade the skills of his staff at Sagada Weaving, an offshoot of the now defunct weaving business of Lepanto Crafts established in 1968. Since then Sagada weaving has produced and sold bags, purses/wallets, traditional Cordilleran clothes (skirt and loincloth), place mats, table runners, and other products from hand-woven fabrics at select stores in Baguio City, Bontoc, Kalinga, and Apayao. Local and foreign tourists do not leave the town without buying at least a product or taking a tour at Sagada Weaving house. (Arlene R. Obmerga, S&T Media Service, August 27, 2009)
