Maranao Brasswork Workshops

Tugaya, Lanao del Sur, BARMM

The Maranao of Lanao del Sur have maintained for centuries one of the finest metalworking traditions in the Philippines: lost-wax cast brassware producing lanterns, betel nut boxes, and the iconic sarimanok bird sculpture that is the symbol of Maranao culture. The municipality of Tugaya is the undisputed center of this craft, with workshops where molten brass is poured into hand-carved clay molds. The resulting objects — some purely functional, others purely ceremonial — carry okir motifs encoding a cultural vocabulary of extraordinary depth.

📸 Gary Todd (CC0), Haa900 (CC0), Valenzuela400 (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Wikimedia Commons

brassworksarimanokMaranaometalcraftokirTugaya

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