Princess of trinkets uplifts women artisans

DOLLED UP Princess Jamito showcases her summer collection.

Her love for all things pretty led to the creation of a community-based social enterprise that empowers women through the handcrafting of accessories.

Princess Jamito knew at a young age that she had a knack for selling things. She used to sell snacks to her classmates to sustain her needs and also to help her parents. Little did she know that this skill was her stepping stone to bigger things ahead.

Jamito, who eventually became an industrial engineer, worked as an assistant deputy manager for a supermarket in Maldives for five months in 2015. There she was drawn to the allure of bohemian accessories.

HANDCRAFTED Nanays in action at Boho Dreams production hub in Bacoor, Cavite —CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS

Upon returning home, she taught herself how to create her own accessories such as coin purses and bags. “I used my creativity to design every piece. In that way, I discovered the technique [of] how to make them,” she recalls.

What started out as a hobby became a lucrative side hustle while working as an engineer. “[I would wear] my own creations going to the office. My office mates really liked all my designs and wanted to buy them. That’s when I got the idea of turning it into a business,” she says.

READ: Understanding social entrepreneurship

In 2017, she quit her day job as an engineer to sell handcrafted trinkets. As a full-time entrepreneur, she was so eager to join mall bazaars and concept stores back then. It was a one-woman show. She did everything, from crafting to selling, and even delivering her products. It was around this frantic period when she met Michael Villaluz, who later became her husband. He is also an entrepreneur who specializes in logo and website designs, and owns a clothing business.

Together, they hopped from one bazaar to another to sell their items. All was going well until the pandemic threw a curveball. Jamito knew that accessories were not essential items that most Filipinos needed to prioritize during that time. But she and her husband still pursued selling via e-commerce platforms.

They come in pretty packaging.

Blessing in disguise

The couple set up an online store on Shopee called Treehouse Arts & Crafts. They conducted live selling online. To their surprise, all of their trinkets were sold out after a few days of going live. “I was really worried that no one would buy or wear accessories at all. But [it] turned out that it’s actually a blessing in disguise,” she says.

It was also during the pandemic when her husband thought of employing families in their neighborhood who were out of work. They saw a win-win proposition: they would be able to keep up with production demand and at the same time, provide a source of livelihood for others.

“We started with only one family and asked them [to look for others] who needed work at that time. I personally taught our employees the technique of bohemian crafting,” she says. When the health crisis started to ebb, the couple already had enough capital to fund their first kiosk inside a mall.

In August of 2022, Jamito opened the first Boho Dreams store at Alabang Town Center in Muntinlupa City. She says that the name is slang for Bohemian dreams. “It symbolizes reaching your goals in life. Thus our slogan is, ‘May all your boho dreams come true.’”

After two months, their second branch opened at Festival Mall.

Being a stickler for quality, Jamito pays close attention to the designs of their products. She personally oversees the production and brainstorms with her staff to come up with new products that are all within an affordable price range. On the other hand, her husband is in charge of employee management and day-to-day operations as well.

Summer collection of necklaces

Employing women

Jamito, now 36, prioritizes hiring more women as artisans. The nanays (mothers) mostly come from a barangay in Molino, Bacoor in Cavite, with ages ranging from 21 to 56 years old. The nanays have exceptional craftsmanship, she says, because they have a keen eye for beauty. On top of it all, she reckons that women are naturally hardworking and are multitaskers.

READ: A mission to boost social enterprises

Also, the women contribute to the creative process. Jamito says their workplace makes the nanays comfortable enough to pitch their own design ideas. She supports their ideas and makes some improvements before marketing them as a new line or collection.

Her company now has 40 employees, all with complete benefits, including personal accident insurance. “Hopefully, we could hire more in the future,” she says.

Aside from having more women in the workplace, Jamito also advocates for the growth of resellers. After the launch of her physical stores, she designated the online store to solely focus on the needs of resellers, who are also mostly women.

Through Treehouse Arts & Crafts, Jamito is now a supplier of low-cost wholesale accessories and affordable raw materials to resellers. In 2022, her online store was awarded as a Shopee Star Seller after reaching 1.5 million views. This became the stimulus to create a more productive ecosystem for her resellers.

Rather than pitting people against each other, Jamito believes that everyone should instead provide a stepladder for one another to become better entrepreneurs.

“I can see myself in them (resellers). I sold all kinds of products before. I know that it is really hard to become a full-time business person. Selling low-priced products through our wholesale store is a way of helping them to jump-start their accessories business,” she explains.

Summer earrings

Paradigm shift

Being the creative director of Boho Dreams has changed her mindset in so many ways. Her most important takeaways? You have to be very patient and have more self-confidence. Aside from being an entrepreneur, Jamito is also a mother of two (Aia and Ethan).

After hurdling numerous challenges, Boho Dreams now operates 11 kiosks located at SM malls in Metro Manila, Cavite and Laguna. But the work is far from over as they are set to open a physical store for their perfume line called Whimsy Wonder.

Her advice for budding entrepreneurs: choose a business that you enjoy working on.

“Follow your passion as it will give you the drive to continue during tough times,” she says. Also, she emphasizes the need to find the right partner in running the daily operations. Luckily, she found the best business partner and eventually ended up marrying him. INQ