Craft is Culture

Lulu Tan-Gan has spent her career honouring heritage through innovation, creating unique fashion pieces that prioritise sustainability above all

- Julianna Cabili

From a young age, Lulu Tan-Gan exhibited a natural affinity for crafts, often reminiscing about her home economics classes, where she first learnt the intricate arts of knitting, crocheting and fabric construction. Initially, she envisioned a future in political science, fuelled by lofty aspirations of one day making her mark at the United Nations. However, her parents’ guidance and deep-seated wish to remain in the vibrant embrace of Manila redirected her path toward the world of fine arts. During that period, the landscape of fashion education in the Philippines was quite limited; formal fashion schools were non-existent, leaving only vocational programmes that concentrated primarily on the technical foundations of design rather than the artistry that Tan-Gan yearned to explore.

She attended the Madonna School of Fashion during the summer to supplement her fine arts studies. This early exposure to fashion fuelled her desire to become a designer. At that time, it was already clear that her unique focus on craft-based design set Tan-Gan apart from other designers of her time.