Fresh Faces: Maita Hagad
Art, vintage jewelry, and material exploration
Maita Hagad. Portrait by Aya Cabauatan.
F&M’s Fresh Faces is a series featuring young Southeast Asian fashion practitioners, where we speak with them about how they embarked on their careers and what propels them as creatives.
Maita Hagad is a Filipino multidisciplinary artist and designer whose creative practice spans painting, sculpture, archival curation, and design. She studied Fashion Design & Merchandising at Career Academy Asia and earned a Bachelor of Science in Interior Design from De La Salle–College of Saint Benilde. She completed a certificate in Landscape Architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where she will return this fall to pursue her Master’s in Landscape Architecture.
From hand-stitching sugarcane fields to collecting vintage ephemera for The Library, Hagad is drawn to material histories and intimate acts of making. In this conversation, she reflects on her evolving relationship with textile, storytelling through objects, and what it means to be in constant artistic motion.
The Library vintage collection. Video courtesy of Maita Hagad.
Tell us about your background. How did your relationship with fashion and design begin?
My grandmother was an artist, both my parents are architects, and my older sister is a fashion designer. My artistic sensibilities are simply an innate part of who I am, and in my blood.
I was born and raised in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental, Philippines. Later on, I studied Fashion Design & Merchandising at Career Academy Asia, received my Bachelor of Science in Interior Design at the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, and completed a certificate in Landscape Architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
The Library’s Valentine Ring. Image courtesy of Maita Hagad.
The Library’s Valentine Ring. Image courtesy of Maita Hagad.
You have worked across painting, sculpture, interior design, and archival curation through The Library. What has consistently drawn you to materiality, and how does textile, in particular, figure in your practice today?
I view materiality as the manifestation of intangible experiences into form, shaped by the limitations of our tangible world, regardless of the medium I choose to work with.
The use of textile in my art practice, in particular, has allowed me to experiment with what the material can be outside of utility. In a way, this approach departs from the structured methods I learned in school, allowing the material to redefine its own meaning within my work.
Collection from The Library featuring vintage earrings and a 1990s Victorian pendant. Image courtesy of Maita Hagad.
You have modeled for designers like Carl Jan Cruz, Idyllic Summers, and Novel Worldwide, all known for strong material language. What drew you to them?
My encounters with Carl Jan Cruz, Steffi Cua of Idyllic Summers, and Prince Padilla of Novel Worldwide revealed a remarkable level of dedication to their craft. While each of them possesses a distinct material language, they also have compelling narratives, merging technique and storytelling in ways that feel deeply resonant.
Maita Hagad, River Mina, Yuki stoneware clay. Image courtesy of the artist.
As a multidisciplinary artist navigating art, design, and fashion, what are some of the challenges you face, and what excites you about occupying this kind of in-between space?
The work is never boring. There are endless opportunities to stay curious and be a beginner again. The challenge lies in holding onto a clear focus that grounds everything amidst the exploration.
Maita Hagad, Tutod, textile, thread, and dye. Image courtesy of the artist.
In your show These Objects Walk, you presented Tutod, a hand-stitched gridwork tapestry mapping sugarcane fields in Negros Occidental in the Philippines. How do place and memory play in your use of textile and form?
Tutod is a farming method where fields are burned to clear the land. It is an enduring image from my childhood home. Growing up in this environment instilled in me a deep awareness of the power of land, not just as tangible material but as living systems: how we shape it, and how it, in turn, shapes us. These early experiences continue to shape my work today, with textile and form becoming vessels through which these memories take shape.
The making of Tutod. Image courtesy of the artist.
In many ways, your visual world feels rooted in analog, sensory experiences: earth, sea, fibre, tactility. How does this sensibility inform your approach to fashion and style?
I generally tend to gravitate towards local designers that share the same values, shop vintage and secondhand, keep my jewelry minimal, and rotate among three pairs of shoes at a time.
Over the past few months, I have been moving between Bacolod City, Metro Manila, and other places so I am living off a suitcase. It has taught me a lot about versatility and restraint.
Maita Hagad, hand-built clay sculptures, Yuki stoneware clay. Image courtesy of the artist.
Maita Hagad, Mapping 01-03, acrylic on canvas. Image courtesy of the artist.
What are you working on next—any upcoming fashion collaborations, exhibitions, or new directions in your practice?
I look forward to returning to the Harvard Graduate School of Design this fall for my Master's in Landscape Architecture!
Follow Maita’s work on Instagram at @maitahagad, and learn more about The Library here.