My Own Words: Adrienne Charuel

Maison Métisse and the Itneg tribe 
By Adrienne Charuel

Portrait of Adrienne Charuel.

Living your dream only has value when you can share it and inspire others. This is at the very heart of the creative vision for my brand Maison Métisse.

I started Maison Métisse in 2016, when I was living in New York, as a self-expression of my love for weaving and hand-crafted items. I wanted to explore my creativity and the world of ethical and sustainable fashion. Moving back unexpectedly to my country — the Philippines — in 2018 has given me a chance to go back to my roots and discover our beautiful heritage.

Artisan weaver with her loom. Image courtesy of Adrienne Charuel.

While conducting self-study into natural dyes, I found out that there were natural dyes produced by the Itneg tribe in Northern Luzon. I decided to visit them and take a three-day workshop. This was where I came upon their beautiful sacred hand embroideries, which I have incorporated into my creations. Not so far from the Itneg tribe, about 30 minutes away, I also discovered La Paz, a small charming town of weavers where almost every home has a loom. They would sit outside their homes by the lanai, or verandah, and make beautiful, intricate weaves to tell their stories. It was through conversations with them that I fell in love with the community. To me it was a craft and an art. To them, it was life. 

Unfortunately, these communities were living in poverty and I knew that I could make a  difference. It was clear to me that I wanted to help empower these communities by partnering with them, and contribute to improving their living and work environment. Meeting the people of these tribes elevated my vision from creating beautiful things through my self-expression into creating beautiful things with others and making a difference. This was the missing part of my creative vision. It was a wonderful realisation that I could be socially responsible and have a positive impact on the environment.

“Meeting the people of these tribes elevated my vision from creating beautiful things through my self-expression into creating beautiful things with others and making a difference. This was the missing part of my creative vision.”

Adrienne Charuel with some of the artisans. Image courtesy of Adrienne Charuel.

I would visit these communities every month or so, not only to create pieces but to also spend time with them and share a meal together. The only way I can truly empower the communities is to get to know them, their joys and sorrows. It helps me have a better idea about how I can continue and improve helping them. They have energy poverty and lose electricity three to four times a week which negatively impacts their life. We donated some solar lamps and it has helped them significantly. They are able to weave and embroider at night when they can while their children are asleep. Some of them are full-time mothers and can only work on their craft in the evenings.

An artisan from the tribal community working on the fabrics for Maison Métisse. Image courtesy of Adrienne Charuel.

As a social entrepreneur, working with the local communities does have its challenges. I do not mean it as a negative thing. It is simply very challenging as tribes live a different life, and they have their own cultural identity and their own way of doing things. We are not educated the same way. Not that they are not; it is just different. Poverty negatively impacts their decisions. Sometimes they do not understand values such as mutual respect because they are starving. If another designer comes in with a bigger offer, they can decide to go with them instead.

For me, it has been about being patient and having compassion. It is finding the right balance of empowering  communities and making sure to protect myself and my business. It is the process of developing mutual respect and honest, kind communication. From my personal experience with working with local communities, I have seen firsthand how little they are paid and I made an early decision to always pay them more than the living wage. I let them price their items most of the time and if I see that they are selling themselves too short I tell them that they can sell it higher. Some of them sell low just to sell because they need to eat. While I have collaborated with these communities to empower and inspire them, they have inspired and empowered me more as I spend time with them.

When the pandemic lockdown started in March last year, I was not able to continue with production for a couple of months because the only delivery the country allowed was for essentials. This negatively impacted the income for me, and for the local communities I work with. On the day the lockdown was predicted in Luzon, the tribes messaged me sharing their worries about their necessities since the lockdown would prevent them from earning enough to afford them.

Indigo-dyed fabrics for Maison Métisse #MaskForCommunity. Image courtesy of Adrienne Charuel.

This is where I created the #MaskForCommunity where we donate 50% of sales to the local communities. It is me, my mom, and our household help behind the production. Everything is hand-dyed and hand-sewn in small batches. We were overwhelmed with the response as we were almost sold out right away. With this initiative, we were able to donate enough for the tribes to afford their basic necessities during the lockdown.

It was also this lockdown that inspired me to launch the Maison Métisse Artisan Fund where we help our local communities by selling their traditional creations through our website. 80% of sales go to them. We decided to do this because they live in remote areas and have little to no access to online platforms. We have had a very positive response so far. These two initiatives have become permanent for the brand, especially after we have seen how much it continues to help our artisans. My priority in the pandemic is less about growing the business and more about taking care of others where I can.

Lifestyle images from Maison Métisse. Images courtesy of Adrienne Charuel.

Without our partnerships with the local communities, we would not be where we are today. This will continue to be a focus for the brand. We will collaborate with local artisans and weave our beautiful stories together, reviving almost forgotten traditions and creating something new.

As we navigate the new normal, my creative vision for Maison Métisse is to be more humane, with our purpose centring on what we can do for the planet and its people, making sure our humanity flows into what we create, how we create it, and who we create it with.