The Vanguards: Quirino's Goddesses of Flowers

 

In such a rare gathering, the vanguards of the flower-making industry were in the group of trainees during the natural dye seminar. These vanguards are Quirino’s goddesses of flowers who, from their hands, create flowers of limitless possibilities.

 

Mrs. Lucena Aguas or Manang Luz of Alvin’s Floral Design and Blooms is currently the president of the Quirino Gift, Toys and Housewares Organization (QGTH). She is a medical technologist by profession, married to a civil engineer, and blessed with a son and a daughter who by the way happened to be my batchmate in college. What a small world! Of all the other producers, Manang Luz enjoys the distinction of having the most aggressive product development and diversification efforts, as well as the most economically established of all the private producers.

 

The Patrocinios are a big family whose venture was started by the Patrocinio matriarch, Mrs. Zenaida dela Cruz. They maintain a property now in full stretch to accommodate their steeping vessels and drying area, store and showroom, storage of their raw materials, and work area. There is also a garage for two newly acquired vehicles. You’ll never miss the fact that they are, indeed, into the business! Actually, there is more space allotted for the business than that occupied by the members of the family! Belonging to the third generation of the Patrocinios, Shella Tabanilla attended the natural dye seminar. Being the youngest of the participants, her vigor was apparent although she was apprehensive if she could do the natural dyeing alone by herself. She was assured that her knowledge on natural dyes would be her contribution to the already established family business. She will be attending the WOW Philippines in Intramuros in October 2004 and pledged to include some prototypes of naturally dyed flowers in her exhibit.

 

Mrs. Epigenia Gabrillo of the Diffun Flower Producers Association is a past president of the QGTH and was one of the pioneers in the business. Now in her late sixties, she is still an active participant in seminars and workshops on fossilized flowers. In fact, she was one of the most active participants in the natural dye seminar. To her, every color is special. She even utilized the used natural dye baths during the seminar and was delighted to show us that her dyed leaves were still as beautiful as the first batch.

 

Mrs. Juliana Tactac, like Mrs. Gabrillo, is also a former president of QGTH. She also conducts training courses on fossilized leaves. In her eyes I can see the multitude of experience she has had with the craft, including the myriad of colors she has already produced. Yet she was still delighted with the colors from natural dyes. She actually tried natural dyeing alone by herself even before the training concluded. She was pleased that it was simple and cheap and quite flexible to experiment on.