In this Lifestyle Visionary special cover edition of Stylish Magazine, we are putting the spotlight on Maritess Pineda. One of the most beloved visionaries in the Filipino culture because of her work at ArteFino — an annual bazaar where talented Filipino artist-entrepreneurs across the country gather to showcase their locally-made products for sale— Maritess has helped transform the bazaar event into an impact-driven movement that has truly elevated the way we’ve preserved the Filipino cultural heritage.
It was a lovely morning at Coro Hotel in Poblacion in Makati City, and the Stylish Magazine team was already feeling delighted about how the day was going. Our cover subject, Maritess Pineda, was also in a great mood, as she tried to figure out with the team how her closet staple pieces could be mixed and matched with the team’s own fashion pull-outs.
The madam’s closet gems were to-die for, as each clothing piece perfectly exuded the traditional Filipino fashion design sensibilities incorporated in wearable art. From iconic Patis Tesoro designs, to pieces made of Filipino indigenous fabrics like Inabel from Ilocos, Maritess donned every fashion piece with so much pride about her Filipino heritage, sharing her personal anecdote relating to either the designer, or the fabric.
Even more apparent in her personal fashion collection was her obvious passion and support for Pinoy craftsmanship. This certain passion has gone to be a solid advocacy of hers: the preservation and enrichment of the Filipino heritage in arts and fashion — which then has become the backbone of the Philippines’ famous ArteFino Fair, which she co-founded.
Coda Wet Bar’s famous Halo-Halo
Each year, the ArteFino Fair is commenced wherein more than a hundred artist-entrepreneurs from across the country gather in one space, showcasing their handcrafted products in booths, which then can be supported and bought by art and fashion enthusiasts. For every season, the bazaar event has become a much awaited affair. A truly impact-driven cause, the ArteFino Fair has uplifted many Filipino artisan groups along the way, particularly in terms of business and economic gains. The products are marketed specifically for the conscious consumers — those who are willing to pay a premium for Filipino socially responsible products.
But even more impressive, the ArteFino Fair’s efforts have strengthen the Filipino identity in fashion and arts and our cultural heritage through the modern times. Gone were the days when the Filipiniana can be worn only as formalwear for particular events. Today, the design details of the Filipino terno and Filipiniana are brilliantly incorporated in everyday modern wear, looking even more stylish and mod as ever.
“ArteFino was founded in 2017, and the inspiration behind it was to raise funds to support the Filipino artisan and designer communities from across the country, and preserve the creation techniques of our artisans that have been a part of the cultural heritage, and that they have been doing the past generations. Preserving these techniques in Pinoy craftsmanship, while also enhancing the cultural heritage, provides livelihood for the members of the communities, thereby giving them a chance to further their education and to upgrade their technology. Therefore then, we can come up with better quality products that will enhance their industries. We aim to help them learn about the new methods, technologies and materials too, that will help them improve the quality of their outputs, and to follow the latest ways of preserving the Filipino cultural heritage, as well as our environment, by using the newly discovered and developed components in sustainability.”
Maritess wears Coco and Tres pants with Inabel details
“What I love about the brands that we feature at the ArteFino Fair is they have been able to create designs we would never have dreamt of. They have found a way to make Filipino designs wearable for the younger generation . I am so proud when I see the younger generation wear Filipiniana pieces even during their daily activities, and not necessarily only during formal affairs. It brings me joy that there’s a sense of acceptability that has been attained, because of the creativity of the new generation of artist-entrepreneurs — something our ancestors would’ve never imagined that could happen. Our featured entrepreneurs at our fairs have also discovered Filipino raw materials and indigenous fabrics our ancestors would’ve never thought of using during their generation.”
“Our mission at ArteFino has always been to become the leading movement that promotes a proudly Filipino lifestyle, where everyone has a sense of purpose that drives them to reimagine, innovate, and elevate Filipino craftsmanship,” Maritess shared during the interview. “ArteFino is the platform for artist-entrepreneurs to showcase and sell their products, and for communities to tell their stories through their arts, creations and crafts. It is an income generator for artist-entrepreneurs, and their collaborating artisan communities from across the archipelago.”
“By elevating living traditions as a source of livelihood, ArteFino hopes to encourage
younger generations of artisans to take up and continue these traditions and techniques in making traditional Filipino handicrafts so they won’t die down—preserving our cultural heritage in the process,” she added.
Aside from the ArteFino Fair, Maritess does the same work with her other organizations and endeavors, being the president of the Las FilipinaZ Fair group which is also a cultural bazaar event, and an active officer at Zonta Club Makati & Environs, a women empowerment-driven non-profit group.
“Zonta has become dear to me because it has become my venue wherein I can give back to the marginalized for all the blessings that I’ve had in life . I cannot deny that I had so many opportunities in life that others did not, and at this stage of my life, it’s time to give back in a platform that is structured enough within which I can help others, especially women that do not have as much as we have .Together we can make a greater impact in society in improving the lives of others”
Supporting Filipino Fashion Since Childhood
Since ArteFino‘s foundation in 2017, the bazaar event has become for than just a fair where you can go shopping for the best Filipino art and fashion finds. ArteFino has indeed become movement that has ingenuously preserved and elevated the traditional Filipino craftsmanship in arts and fashion, seamlessly translated to the whim of the modern market.
But Maritess’ passion has far deeper roots than ArteFino‘s conception.
Having been raised by a mother who’s equally supportive of Filipino fashion designers, artisans and suppliers from decades back, Maritess has had an early head start in terms of deeply appreciating the Filipino craftsmanship during her childhood.
“When I was young, it was my mother who was my greatest inspiration and guide in developing my sense of fashion. She took me to the best Filipino fashion designers when I was growing up, and she showed me how to explore among suppliers that may not be as well known as the others, but are very creative and talented,” she narrated.
“For special occasions though, like my debut party and wedding, she took me to no less than Ramon Valera, whose gowns I still treasure up to now, 62 years later. My mother kept them well, that now I am still able to exhibit the fashion masterpieces to inspire the designers of today. Creators could learn how old designers used to develop things during the past generations. I believe that the Filipino fashion designers before were so ahead of their time, that up to now, their techniques in fashion design can be taken inspiration from.”
Just late last year, Maritess and her organizations, Zonta and FilipinaZ Fair, organized the iconic Pitoy Moreno Tribute Exhibit. Iconic Filipino fashion designer Pitoy Moreno is celebrating his 100th year of legacy this year, with a book launched by his heirs last February. Three fairs ago, they also produced the Ramon Valera tribute exhibit. Ramon Valera was bestowed with the National Artist of the Philippines honor in 2006. He is the first Filipino fashion designer to receive this distinction, as his Filipiniana couture design had been worn and celebrated by Manila’s first Filipino elites and fashionistas in the mid 1900’s. Valera was bestowed with the National Artist of the Philippines honor in 2006. He is the first Filipino fashion designer to receive this distinction, as his Filipinianas had been worn and celebrated by Manila’s first Filipino elites and fashionistas in the mid 1900’s.
“Ramon Valera was a close friend of mine, and barkada of my parents. And he was the first one we’ve dedicated a fair exhibit to.”
Last year, Maritess and her FilipinaZ Fair organization were also able to give tribute to fashion designer Ben Ferrales. Known for his Muslim-inspired dress designs worn by the most loved actresses and socialites for decades, Ferrales had been celebrated as the Filipino culture’s “Dean of Philippine Fashion.”
“Luckily, Ben Ferrales was still alive for our tribute, and his heirs were able to keep and donate creations for our tribute exhibit, which we were able to sell for Ben.”
“Through the exhibits, we wanted to show the entrepreneurs of today what the masters were doing in the past. I’ve realized that why I am in this field of preserving our Filipino culture in arts and fashion, is because I feel that’s what I have been living for my whole life,” she said.
With her work with the Zonta group, FilipinaZ Fair, and ArteFino, she’s learned just how much the old Filipino fashion creations were not at all preserved.
“That’s one thing that I feel really sad about. All these legendary Filipino fashion designers worked so hard. They attained a certain stature, but at the end of the day, there’s nobody that properly preserved their creations. So I said, my dream was we will eventually have a fashion museum.”
Uplifting The Filipino Artisan Economy
Aside from preserving the essence of the vintage Filipino design through tribute exhibits, Maritess’ work with her organizations has also covered the uplifting of the current status of Filipino fashion designers and artisans through monetary grants and business opportunities.
Through ArteFino’s HerteFino Development Program, ArteFino gave a grant to the Bagobo Tagabawa community of Turil, Davao in 2018. As a beneficiary, the community received Php1,000,000 funding from ArteFino. The org also arranged for Filipino fashion designer Zarah Juan to be the design and skills training mentor for the community. This community was chosen based on the most outstanding brand from 2017, and was selected based on social impact and the need for product innovation.
Maritess has always been hands-on with discovering talented artist-entrepreneurs to be featured in their bazaars.
“We search for various brands by being curious whenever I see something new. But now that we have become a byword in the local industry, the brands now aspire to be part of our bazaars, and find ways to develop items they feel will be acceptable and will be worth featuring in our fairs. ArteFino has now become a byword in the local industry.”
“I am so proud of ArteFino because we have been able to make our products acceptable in a very distinguished market, and it has become acceptable in the mainstream of society. Now you can see how everyone uses the modern Filipiniana fr0om our bazaars even in the most exclusive, elegant, and important affairs in society.”
“We really hope to make the Filipino cultural heritage be part of our modern lifestyle, be part of our day to day activities in all we do, be it through fashion in our home, or day in and out day to day activities.”
In terms of these Filipino brands going mainstream in the global market, Maritess can see some of the barriers that need to be overcome.
“If our brands want to be accepted in the global market, there are challenges we have to hurdle . Like sizing standardization, style offerings that can be distinct for the global market, and most importantly, their pricing. Because pricing for the local market is totally different from pricing for the foreign market,” Maritess said. “These are some factors that we still guide the participants with.”
This visionary has always highlighted how we maintain our Filipino identity in the fashion industry, particularly in the global scene.
“It’s important for us to uplift the Filipino identity because that is what will identify our heritage, and what will also help preserve our cultural arts. Culture and the crafts that we have learned and inherited from our indigenous communities and our dear ancestors. We are able to use these bazaars as platforms within which we can test the marketability of our products to the consumers. Preserving the past is still important.”
“In the coming months, I still will continue to explore new techniques and new technologies because then we can share with our brand partners, so they too can enhance their products as they try to be more creative and updated in the months and years to come.”
“We are always encouraging continuous updating, research and inspirations from other creatives so that we can come up with something new all the time . I will never stop trying to learn more and more by communicating with others, and see to whom I can share these methods or technologies that I learn, so as to also challenge the designers and artisans not to get complacent and be content with what is the present. Keep learning and moving forward to become better and better in what you are doing. There is always something new to learn, and it does give anyone the satisfaction, and be happy because you learned something new.”
“Let’s all continue to be inspired, and aspire to find something better to do all the time, until we find what is better than the best at the moment. My hope is we all continue moving forward to greater heights in whatever we are doing, especially with preserving the traditional Filipino fashion craftsmanship, while also elevating the techniques for the marketability of Filipino fashion and art products in these modern times,” Maritess concluded.
—————————————————————
Celebrity sisters and it-girls Isabelle Diaz Daza-Semblat and Ava Daza-Zanirato star in the current cover story of STYLISH, as they talk about how they empower women by inspiring them to take control of their sexual wellness through their brand Jellytime.
Read the STYLISH March-April 2025 cover story here.
Stylish Magazine is “your source of self-love, style & inspiration” first introduced in June 2020. Our television series format, Stylish TV, once ranked one of the Top 50 Most Watched Multicultural Shows in the USA, can be streamed on iWantTFC and be watched on TFC (The Filipino Channel) in more than 50 countries. Watch it online here.
Style Visionary Network is a lifestyle-business online platform where #WeCreateVisionaries. Also introduced in June 2020, Style Visionary Network is also the digital home channel of media brands Stylish Magazine and Stylish TV.