Know the Living Treasure
by Vincent Baldonado
Magdalena Gamayo is an Ilocano descent specifically from Pinili, Ilocos Norte, a few hours drive away from Laoag, which is the capital of Ilocos Norte. Magdalena was born on August 13, 1924, and was awarded the Gawad ng Manlilikha ng Bayan (GAMABA) Award last 2012, she was well-known for her proficiency in the field of weaving specifically textile weaving.
Magdalena started weaving when she was 16 years old, and she learned the art of weaving from her aunt, she never received any formal education about the art but picked up the art by copying the patterns her aunt made.
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Weaving was a normal thing for females in her village and she and her cousins and friends often held competitions to see who can weave the best. She obtained her first loom when she was 19 years old from her father with the help of their local craftsman, her first loom lasted for 30 years sustaining her throughout marriage and motherhood.
Locals now try to recreate the same loom that Magdalena used in order to preserve the traditional way of weaving. Today Magdalena has two students: her cousin’s sister-in-law and her sister-in-law, who learned to weave at a latter age.
Through the course of time, Magdalena taught herself various weaving patterns such as binakol, inuritan (geometric design), kusikos (spiral forms similar to oranges), and sinan-sabong (flowers), which are the most challenging patterns. Her works are finer than most abel and her blankets often have high thread counts, while the design she used are the most intricate designs and by using different colored threads she was able to bring her crafts into life.