Eyes on Southeast Asia: Textiles and Identity is a three-part series developed and produced in partnership and collaboration with SoFA Design Institute. The series highlights the diverse and rich culture of Southeast Asia through in-depth and personal conversations with creatives, changemakers, and experts exploring our rich culture of textiles and its link to our identity as peoples. 

Southeast Asia is a culturally diverse and yet homogenous region. One aspect deeply ingrained in the diverse milieu of the region is textiles. Through textiles, stories and history are documented in each intricate step of its making. The weaves going beyond woven material or simple aesthetics to an integral part of an individual's, a community's, a nation's, and a peoples' identity. 

Watch the three part series below: 

Episode 1: The Filipino Identity & Textiles Woven Through Culture

In Episode 1, we scratch the surface of the intricate art and industry of textiles in the Philippine setting with our panel of experts— Hon. Loren Legarda, Deputy Speaker, Philippine House of Representatives; Dr. Corinne Romabiles, Adjunct Professor at the Asian Insitute of Management; Anya Lim, Co-Founder of ANTHILL Fabric Gallery and Asia 21 Fellow; and , Carla Leonor, Chairperson for Interior Design at SoFA Design Institute, as our host.

Episode 2: The Journey of Textiles in Southeast Asia

In Episode 2 of Eyes on Southeast Asia: Textiles & Identity, we sit down with three individually powerful women and institutions in the art and industry of textiles— Dr. Norma Respicio, Professor of Art Studies at the University of the Philippines-Diliman; Dr. Siti Mariah Waworuntu, General Secretary of Traditional Textile Arts Society of Southeast Asia (TTASEA); and Adelaida Lim, President of HABI The Philippine Textile Council.

Episode 3: Future-Proofing Our Textiles

In Episode 3, we dig into the questions, "What's the future for our textiles?" and "How do we future-proof our textiles?" Listen in on the presentations and the conversations between our panel of experts, covering policy, intellectual property rights, labor, and education-- realms we rarely discuss when it comes to textiles. Joined by our panel of experts from the Philippine Fashion Council are— Esme Palaganas, Emi Englis, and Michael Claparols. Carla Leonor of SoFA Design Institute returned as the host.