With everything Modela Filipina has become today, we can say that we are proud. For  how far we’ve come and the cultural impact we stand for, we hold our heads high. We were once just a humble jewelry brand, but now we carry voices, symbols, and responsibilities, none of which we dared to compromise. 

 

It wasn’t always about the jewelry, but we have always been about responsibility. When we started Modela, we didn’t even have any product in mind. We started with  questions, which we turned into goals, which we turned into the foundational values we carry with us today.

 

“How can we guarantee financial security for struggling artisan communities?”

 

“How can we provide them with the means to keep their trade alive?”

 

“How can we ensure that their livelihoods are sustainable and protected?”

 

Before anything else, we had a corporate social responsibility to give back to these communities. Everything else followed from there, and our bottom line would be that nothing would come before that.

 

Our initial success with jewelcrafting in the community led to workshops that would pass on artisanal teachings to others in the community. From there, anyone of working age could participate and contribute. This led to students crafting to help with tuition, or the elderly looking for a craft to apply themselves to.

 

It didn’t take us long to realize that our responsibility was no longer a goal to take these people towards, but that we had already brought them there. With so many different livelihoods depending on us, it became our responsibility now to ensure their security. 

 

The jewelry Modela carries is their craft, and these are the works of their hands. This is the heritage the generations past have brought them, and this is what they wish to carry forward to their future generations. 

 

Already threatened by an economy leaving them behind, it is our responsibility to do our part in protecting them. We cannot give in even an inch. We cannot compromise on what is their well-being. We are thankful they trust us enough to provide us with the best of their craft, we cannot give them any less than the best they deserve. 

 

As a brand, as a business, and as an advocacy, Modela Filipina is and has grown to become many things. But every growth starts from our foundations, and our foundations are these artisan communities. We have overhead, we have costs, as well as salaries to fulfill up and down our structure. But we would collapse the moment we put anything or anyone else before them. We started Modela with these people at heart, we push our boundaries with their hands in our own. We hope, that as you so proudly put on a piece of our jewelry, that you too can bear these proud people in mind. We are Modela Filipina, and this is our social responsibility.