Watch: In The Studio with Palengke’s Jill Santos and Paulina Dayrit

For In The Studio, Palengke creative directors Jill Santos and Paulina Dayrit tell us about their grade school business, the Kapampangan craft behind their latest collection, and the play that permeates their evolving practice.

Among the quirks that make a Filipino home distinct is the makeshift basketball court, and at Jill’s home in Pampanga, the familiar sight greets us behind her garage. Bordered by concrete walls, the mini court-turned-set gathers sounds from the neighborhood: the spray of a hose next door, an engine revving, a man sweeping his driveway with a walis tingting, and a group singing karaoke as early as eleven in the morning. 

The noise seems fitting for today’s shoot, which finds Jill Santos and Paulina Dayrit braving the mid-morning heat, but otherwise in their element: surrounded by the routine activities that shape Filipino life, their deepest well of inspiration.

In this episode of In The Studio, a series that follows designers and artists in their spaces, the two creative directors of Palengke tell us about their first collaboration as grade school classmates, the series of texts that led them to reconnect in college, and the various mundane objects that seep into their visual language: from kitchen staples like the Knorr Broth Cube to empty Ginebra San Miguel bottles scattered along the streets of urban centers.

While the brand focused on clothing in its first year, it has since expanded into shoes, bags, and accessories. In 2022, their Knaur Cube Heels and Kwatro Kantos shoes launched Palengke into a wider local market that appreciated these inventive references.

On the making of their designs, Paulina shares, “We find value in humor. Our first products were named after vegetables,” referring to one of their inaugural items, the high-waisted Sitaw (string bean) pants that came in various colors such as puso ng saging (banana heart). 

These cheerful interpretations of common ingredients and local elements introduced the brand’s knack for being kulit, which the designers understand as a sense of mischief rooted in childlike excitement. “Palengke is our creative playground, more than just a concept brand,” Paulina explains. “It’s where Jill and I get to play.”

Reflecting on their past as childhood friends, Jill recounts selling polymer clay charms and bracelets for 20 pesos at their grade school. Now, over a decade later, she narrates how Palengke has become the mature or “adulting version” of that early partnership, one that draws on their shared frugality and DIY impulse as creators based outside Metro Manila.

Their most recent collections take special pride in their hometown, employing the traditional Kapampangan repoussé art known as Pukpuk, after the sound the hammer makes. 

One twenty-minute drive later, we join the duo at the workshop of Kuya Miguel, a Pukpuk artisan they collaborate with to create hand-formed brass charms, pendants, and lighter cases that come with three kinds of incense. Here, we learn that the metalcraft is used primarily to decorate processional carriages, and that Palengke’s emphasis on respecting craft also means respecting that context. 

“One of the non-negotiables of our artisans is to keep the religious aspect of the craft itself,” Jill says. “So that’s why you’ll notice in all our lighter cases, there’s always a cross in the design. That way, we keep the integrity.”

As Kuya Miguel demonstrates the embossing and detailing, the two young creatives chime in with previews of the finished pieces: a tinik or fish-bone pendant that doubles as a comb edge; a French hairpin that can feature a beetle, a clam, or a Kalachuchi flower; and the decals on their new slippers, reminiscent of hotel stays and the amenities we quietly take home in our luggage, another Filipino habit. 

The conversation takes us back to the brand’s values: craft, kulit, and sulit, of which the latter manifests in customizable, multi-use items. “We try to push our design boundaries to be as innovative as possible,” Jill adds, explaining their aim to give each piece more opportunity in the wearer’s day-to-day, such that it can transform with you.

It’s an adaptive sense that evokes real life, as the founding of Palengke in late 2021 mirrored a shift in traditional palengkes or marketplaces, brought about by the pandemic. 

While social distancing limited the contact between sellers and shoppers, pushing many to pivot to online platforms, what remained was the passage of goods through the hands, made visible by a renewed appreciation for supporting one’s neighbors: from small, homegrown businesses to community exchanges. As the shoot winds down, Jill even offers the team focaccia bread made by her father, a result of his own quarantine hobby.

Five years on, the two-woman team that has collaborated with Marikina shoemakers, Romblon stone carvers, Abra natural dyers, and Kapampangan metalsmiths shares their hope to work with a larger network of artisans, open their own standalone shop someday, and continue keeping all manufacturing and material sourcing local.

“We just want to encourage craftsmen or makers here in the Philippines that there is a future in Philippine craft,” Paulina expresses, a sentiment that stems from her and Jill’s own childhood; the school days spent kneading clay with their hands, creating the accessories that first bound them together.

Watch the full episode of “In The Studio with Palengke’s Jill Santos and Paulina Dayrit” below.

Director: Anz Hizon. Cinematographers: Ken Tan and Geralde Bustamante of Chapters. Offline editor: Zyhra Rivero. Online editor: Aija Lonica. Media Channels Video Lead: Wainah Joson. Media Channels Producer: Angelo Tantuico. Chapters Team: Andromeda Tan, Liah Barra, Mark Penalosa, and Patrick Juarez. Interview and introduction by Aylli Cortez.