“Necessity is the mother of invention.”— Plato

When the global pandemic shut down all tourism, the primary economic sector of Malay, Philippines, everyone suffered. Gone were the jobs that many Ati used to eek out an existence in an already challenging financial climate. It was during this time that a branch of the national government trained a group of tribal ladies and men how to weave a native vine into baskets.

With limited local markets for their products and no ongoing support to continue, it appeared that tribe had another skill that had no value in the depressed market. Then one day, in a burst of Divine inspiration an idea was born… what if the ladies crafted jewelry from the vines?

This quickly became a small scale cooperative effort between harvesters of the vines in the mountains, weavers and jewelry makers. “Nito” jewelry is unique, as far as we know, the Ati are the first to form beautiful, durable and lightweight earrings.

Ati Original is the US marketing branch of this livelihood project. Women are paid a fair market value for their crafts as they complete them and profits from sales are shared among the craftsman quarterly. Shop with a purpose here!