The Beauty of Ancestral Craft
Brought to life in 2013, CALLI is a brand that celebrates a rich tradition of Philippine craft, coupling with uncompromising, global standards in workmanship.
Core Values
Philippine Artistry knows no shortcuts and this informs how concepts and design details from our atelier are brought to life.
Our concept of Ancestral Luxury honors generations of hands across metiers of wood carving, weaving, and hand embroidery that have kept Philippine artistry alive.
Designing with Community is an integral part of CALLI’s creative process. We partner with artisans from Paete, Merville, and Moonwalk to bring their mastery of craft to the contemporary design space.
Regeneration and Re-use are key considerations behind our designs. We work with discarded branches, leaves and excess from furniture production, turning them into handbags that serve as hero pieces in every wardrobe. We also replenish our supply source. For every tree used to make our wooden bags, 10 more are planted.
“CALLI is dedicated to supporting small communities and talented artisans. I believe in the preservation of tradition and craft. We endeavor to empower our artisans through collaboration. Through CALLI, we hope to keep Philippine artistry alive and share this gift to the rest of the world.”
–Tessa Nepomuceno, CALLI Bags Founder and CEO
After a career in the tourism industry, CALLI BAGS Founder Tessa Nepomoceno decided it was time to venture into the world of fashion and design. Intuition, a keen eye for detail, and flair for impeccable design guided her as she opened her first clothing and accessories boutique.
By 2006, the fashion entrepreneur began to dabble in the design process experimenting and exploring various shapes, details, and local materials in the creation of bags. Her impeccably crafted pieces soon made it to various retail shelves abroad. It wasn’t until 2013 that she decided to launch her very own brand, CALLI.
CALLI was inspired by her eldest son, Khalil. According to Tessa, “calli” is the female version of her son’s name, which directly translates to beautiful. Behind and beyond the name, it’s Tessa’s vision, passion, and commitment to showcasing the beauty of Philippine craftsmanship through bags that bring the vision of CALLI to life.
Since its founding, CALLI has been working closely with multi- generations of wood carvers from Paete. The brand’s iconic wooden bags, made by the artisans of this area, showcase centuries-old tradition of carving out treasured stories of Philippine life on wood.
Meticulous, intricate embroidery is done by the talented beaders of our Merville community. Each string and stitch, a reflection of CALLI’s uncompromising commitment to quality.
A closer look at our Solihiya weaves will reveal the elevated level of craft of our artisans from the Moonwalk community. Utilizing natural materials like banig, rattan, tikog, inabel, t’nalak and denim, CALLI explores the boundless possibilities in contemporary design using this distinctly Filipino weaving technique.
