Baguio City’s Silvercraft Unmasks Silver Linings For Small Businesses; Eyes New Markets in the ‘New Normal

Domestic trading for small manufacturing businesses, especially those under non-essential industries have been greatly challenged by the COVID-19 pandemic. While majority await the discovery of COVID-19 vaccine, workers under these industries were left in a quandary on whether they should shift their business to another industry, hold on and wait for things to stabilize or give up altogether. Among these non-essential businesses is the jewelry industry which is responsible in providing employment to more than 100,000 workers nationwide, according to Board of Investments (BOI).

In the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) particularly Baguio City, the Silver Jewelry Industry was a thriving industry sustained by various handicraft shops specializing in silver jewelry and other filigree products. Notwithstanding its problems, the silver craft industry still generates revenue for the region, making Baguio City famous not only for its cool climate and temperate fruits and vegetables but also for the abundance of silver jewelry products.

TAWIDCRAFT Corporation; the journey of a silvercraft

An epitome of one such thriving industry is the TAWIDCRAFT Corporation, an enterprise that specializes in the production of fine quality silver jewelry products. Tawid, an Igorot term which means inheritance, was a term explicitly chosen by the owners, Mr. and Mrs. Rimando, to convey to its customers the fact that indeed their products are worth handing down from generation to generation.

TAWIDCRAFT joined the silvercraft industry in 1992 and was registered with the Department of Trade and Industry in the same year. The enterprise, which is blessed with artistic and creative owners has since then joined various productivity missions here and abroad to enhance their skills, widen their perspectives and update the corporation on the existing trends in the silver craft industry.

The company started from a basic manomano processes in producing jewelry which is still being practiced at present for some products, since it can only be produced by hand. With a meager initial capitalization of Php10,000.00, the TAWIDCRAFT has grown into one of the bigger businesses in the industry, which is now supplying SM Boutiques, in addition to trade fairs and exhibits where TAWIDCRAFT showcases its fine quality silver jewelry products. In fact, the corporation started producing its silver jewelry in a shed at the back of the proprietors’ residence. Now, a 3-storey building is being used for production with the top floor as a showcase room of their silver jewelry products.

DOST upgrades TAWIDCRAFT; the silver lining

In 1999, the Department of Science and Technology-CAR provided technological support with the provision of two equipment i.e. electric wax injector and steam dewaxer, through its Regional Grants-in-Aid (GIA) program. In 2001, the TAWIDCRAFT Corporation was once again assisted by DOST-CAR through the Small Enterprise Technology Upgrading Program (SETUP). The program invested Php200,000.00 for the acquisition of several equipment such as M Rotary Tumbler, Vulcanizer, Foredom CC-FCT-30 Motor and Automatic Vacuum Wax Injector. Aside from these, Mrs. Rimando joined DOST-CAR sponsored seminars on Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), and Packaging and Labeling.

DOST-CAR also provided technical consultancy services in 2007 through DOST’s Manufacturing Productivity Extension (MPEX) Program. Through the MPEX, the