Twenty-Six Colors from the Earth
- Jul 31
- 5 min read
Updated: 6 days ago
For three days this April, master dyers from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao stood at the same vats for the first time and created an archipelago’s palette from Philippine plants.
BAHAY UGNAYAN RESEARCH CENTER · BAGUIO CITY & TUBLAY, BENGUET · 24–26 APRIL 2026
A dye vat is a patient teacher. You cannot rush indigo, or argue with the iron that turns a yellow to grey. Over three days this April, twenty-one of the country’s master weavers and natural dyers gathered in the highlands of Benguet to learn from the vats and from one another. By the time the fires went out they had coaxed twenty-six distinct colors from Philippine plants, and built something harder to measure: a set of friendships stretched clear across the archipelago.
An archipelago at the vats
“Agtina Tayo!” - “Let’s Dye!”, brought together practitioners from Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao who, in this format, had never worked side by side before. Ifugao and Kalinga dyers from the Cordillera, the Bagtason weavers of Antique, and T’boli, Blaan and Bagobo masters from Mindanao stood at shared vats and open fires, many of them meeting for the first time. The exchange was hosted by the Bahay Ugnayan Research Center with the Mahalina Foundation, the Masda-aw Collective, Narda’s Handwoven Arts and Crafts, and CORDITEX.
It was built deliberately as a hybrid programme: a first day of talks, presentations and collection viewing at the Research Center in Baguio City, followed by two days of hands-on dyeing outdoors in nature at the Winaca Eco-Cultural Village in Tublay, Benguet.
EVENT AT A GLANCE
A GUIDING QUESTION OF THE EXCHANGE
“What is the essential role of natural dyeing, from thread to finished garment?”
Objectives leading into the gathering
The exchange was structured around three main objectives.
1
Facilitate Knowledge Exchange
A vibrant space was created for artisans to cross-pollinate ideas, methods, and techniques. Through hands-on demonstrations, collaborative workshops, and shared storytelling, participants learned directly from one another's regional traditions, from Ifugao indigo and mud dyeing, to Visayan Bagtason practice, to T'boli, Blaan and Bagobo plant dyes from Mindanao. Cordillera, Visayan, and Mindanao practitioners stood at the same vats for the first time.
2
Produce Narratives and Resources
The essential role of natural dyeing in textiles, from thread to finished garment, was questioned and explored. We attempted to document and highlight the stories, cultural significance, and technical expertise of the participants. Documentation was led by Dr Ikin, Analyn Salvador-Amores and the documentation team, capturing the foundations for new educational information that will honor both tradition and innovation.
3
Generate Foundational Content
Comprehensive documentation was created through photographs, videos, and written texts, captured throughout all three days by a dedicated documentation team. This archive will serve as the foundation for future projects, with all materials being shared with each participant and their community, and will lay the foundations for the forging of a potential compendium of Natural Dyes in the Philippines, preserving knowledge for future generations.
Three days in the highlands
DAY ONE · Friday, 24 April 2026
Bahay Ugnayan, Baguio City
The opening day belonged to discussion. After a welcome briefing, each organizer introduced their work, The Bahay Ugnayan Research Center, the Mahalina Foundation, the Masda-aw Collective and CORDITEX, the group fell into conversation around the naturally dyed textiles of the Mercedes Zobel Collection, the archive that had helped inspire the gathering. The afternoon turned to regional overviews, Mindanao plant dyes from Leonardo Cariño and Brylle Silao, indigo and contemporary natural-dye fashion from Diana “DK” Katigbak, Ifugao dye heritage from Jenny Olnanigon, the practice of Narda’s Handwoven Arts and Crafts, and the Visayan Bagtason weavers Mario Manzano and Teona Armonio. A full viewing of the collection followed, and the day closed with an open floor of stories from the dyers themselves.
DAY TWO · Saturday, 25 April 2026
Winaca Eco-Cultural Village, Tublay, Benguet
An early start carried the group up to Winaca, where the exchange moved fully into the vats. Raffy Tesoro, DK Katigbak and Divina Calingayan led an indigo-and-mud dyeing demonstration, and Kat Palasi shared her work with indigo, cochineal and mangrove. After lunch the Mindanao contingent took over, Agustin Sudaw and Charlie Dulay (T’boli), Lorcita Maggay (Blaan), and Love Dillera-Monon and Mervin To-ong (Bagobo), presenting the plant dyes of the south. The day ended as the best ones do: a fellowship dinner, a bonfire, and stories told around the fire.
DAY THREE · Sunday, 26 April 2026
Winaca Eco-Cultural Village, Tublay, Benguet
The final day paired one last round of demonstrations with the formal capture of everything learned. The morning brought together the Mahalina Foundation, the Masda-aw Collective, the Bagtason weavers of Antique and the Narda’s team; the afternoon was given over to documentation and discussion. It closed with feedback presentations in which each participant spoke of what they had taken from the three days, and with the awarding of certificates.
The heart of the exchange were the colors themselves. Working through a method shared across regions with countless local variations, weigh the fiber, scour it clean, extract the dye, mordant, dye, then rinse and dry in the shade, the group drew a remarkable spectrum from plants, barks, seeds and earth.
The art of natural dyeing
The shared method practiced across regions with regional variation followed six stages:
Twenty-Six Colors from the Earth
Across three days of demonstration and exchange, the group collectively produced twenty-six distinct colours, drawn entirely from indigenous Philippine plants and traditional mordants.
The table below shows the initial plan and natural dye sources we hoped to explore coming into the event followed by the true output.
Whilst the swatches above were initially illustrative of the color families planned for; precise shades shift with the mordant used, the fiber, and the length of the dye bath.
Below are the actual final colors the group produced, quite the achievement for 2 days!
Mordants Used
What multiplied a dozen dye sources into twenty-six colors was the quiet chemistry of the mordant, the material that fixes color to fiber and, in doing so, transforms it.
“On a single shared dyebath, the difference each makes was there to see, one plant, many colors”
The real yield was knowledge
For all the color produced, the most lasting outcome was not something you could hang on a line. Across the three days, plant names were traded in three regional languages; dyers learned to extract color from sources that do not grow in their own provinces; and veteran masters worked shoulder to shoulder with emerging practitioners in an atmosphere everyone described, afterwards, as generous to a fault. Old friendships were renewed and new ones formed across islands that rarely meet.
Most importantly, all of it was recorded. A dedicated documentation team captured the three days in photographs, video and interviews. The stories and the processes behind each color and method will lay the foundation for a compendium of Natural Dyes in the Philippines, which will be produced and shared back with every participant and their community, transposing new knowledge into lasting knowledge for all.
Agtina Tayo! - let’s keep dyeing.
With thanks
The Bahay Ugnayan Research Center thanks its partners in the exchange, the Mahalina Foundation, the Masda-aw Collective, Narda’s Handwoven Arts and Crafts, and CORDITEX and every one of the twenty-one weavers, dyers and support staff, from the Cordillera to the Visayas to Mindanao, who brought their plants, their pots and their knowledge to the highlands.
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