These leather bags become canvases for Filipino art

Homegrown brand Fino Leatherware collaborates with artist Kara Pangilinan for its ‘Art You Can carry’ line

For years, we’ve seen handbags become more than just items that complete one’s look. They can now be vessels for art with many creatives picking up paintbrushes and putting colors on their fine surface. The latest to turn handbags into canvases for art is painter Kara Pangilinan.

Through a collaboration project with homegrown brand Fino Leatherwear, dubbed “Art You Can Carry,” the artist adds more sense of Filipino artistry to the label’s bags with images bearing local flora and fauna alongside the Filipina’s evolved identity. The 30-piece series is decorated with palm fronds, gumamela, and sampaguita flowers, while the artist’s portraits of women in traditional garbs, with one, in particular, reveal the gaze of a strong, modern Filipina.

Kara started her journey in the art field during her time at the University of the Philippines while studying architecture. Since then, her works have been featured by many brands, which include Heineken, Globe, and Youtube.

This is not the first time Fino Leatherwear’s products paid tribute to Filipino culture. Since its founding back in 1992, the brand presented a wrist purse called “Sipa,” which is inspired by a local game, the “Vinta” bags and clutches that evoke the sailing tradition of Mindanao, and the “Pus” bags, which take their shape from a staple of Cebu’s street food—rice wrapped in banana leaves.

Pieces of the “Art You Can Carry” line are available at Fino Leatherwear’s store located on the second floor of Rockwell in Makati City. To know more about it, visit @finoleatherware.official on Instagram.