Tboli Mat

Art of Mat- Making

 History
• The T’boli are an indigenous cultural
community who occupy the southern and
southwestern mountain ranges of South
Cotabato in Mindanao, Philippines.
• Many of the T’boli are concentrated in the
area around Lake Sebu, a big and
beautiful lake high in the mountains that,
according to legend, was born from an act
of sharing.
Process of Mat
• The T’nalak is the traditional sacred cloth of the
T’boli tribe.
• Made from fine abaca and bamboo strip
especially grown for this purpose, T’nalak is
woven using a backstrap, body tension loom
using the ikat (resist-dye) method.
• T’nalak designs are intricate and dazzlingly
complex.
• T’nalak are often described as “woven dreams,”
gifts of Fu Dalu, the spirit of the abaca, with the
T’boli being referred to as “dream weavers.”
 Ethnolinguistic Group
• Before the 1960s, the Tboli bartered tnalak for
horses, which played an important role in their work.
• The establishment of the St. Cruz Mission, which
encouraged the community to weave and provided
them with a means to market their produce, the
Tnalak designs gained widespread popularity and
enable weavers to earn a steady income from their
art.
• The demand also resulted in the commercialization
of the tnalak industry, with outsiders coming in to
impose their own designs on the tboli weavers.
 Uniqueness of Mat Making

• The T’boli women design the t’nalak

without the use of drawn patterns or
guides, but instead, rely on a mental
image of the designs.
• The T’boli women believe that the patterns
are bestowed on them through either their
own dreams, those from their ancestors or
ones granted specially through “Fu Dalu,”
the spirit of the abaca.
 Group Members
• Bustos, John
• Mota, Oliver
• Uson, Rolando