As springboard to the Product Development Workshop held on April 17 and 18, 46 producers coming from 14 groups were given exposure to the April Manila FAME show and nine houseware/furniture shops at the SM Megamall.

Day 1 of the workshop tackled Market Direction Input where the representatives were given pointers on how to observe the exhibits. To gain maximum coverage in visiting booths, they were also organized into three groups with one team leader each. Day 2 was their visit to the shows and as observer-delegates, it is hoped that these shows would be able to:

1. Provide the producers the much-needed exposure to quality products made for the international market;
2. Stimulate their imagination into utilising locally-available materials from their own communities into creating similar quality and functional products; and
3. Transform their visual experience and exposure into meaningful and relevant design blueprints in preparation for the October FAME show.

It is true producing quality crafts takes enormous amounts of skill and creativity. But, largely it also thrives on imagination. Without organized activities such as exposures and workshops, imaginations are left unstimulated, unfed and unnurtured. After all, what cuts through to the heart of fair trading is positioning in the international market which is a matter of producing quality-made products reasonably priced benefiting not only the client-buyer but also the producer-maker.


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