The foundation of a house, as any builder will tell you, is the most important of its structural components. Providing strength and stability, it carries the weight of everything on top of it, while bearing witness to the countless stories above.
On the very ground Casa Selma is built upon, hoisting up everything our minds envision & create, are 3 of our most essential pillars: thoughtful design, careful curation, and diverse collaboration.
As purveyors of creative expression, it is our aim to inject thought & meaning into all that we do, and this includes the communities that we closely collaborate with.
Situated off Mactan Island in Cebu is the austerely beautiful island of Olango.
Famously known as a sanctuary for migratory birds, there thrives a fishing community that has served as both an inspiration and partner for us for the last 3 years.
Working thoughtfully with them through “The Payaw Project”, an initiative that creates fish sanctuaries to serve as a source of food and income for Olango’s fishermen, we also came to meet the shell crafters of the island. These women, partners & kin to the fisherfolk, skillfully shape beauty from raw shells, some of them for more than half their lives.
Their hands, nimble from years of experience, ably string together every shell. A knot here, a snip there, and their artistry is brought to life. These shells - strung together like words until they turn into sentences, and connected until these sentences become stories - tell tales of hope & community. Maribel, Narcisa, Maria, Augustina, and Christina - their dreams are represented in every piece that they create.
As these ornaments bring warmth to our homes, may the strings connecting them remind us that all our stories are woven together.
