OurJourney
We believe that investing in women will have a far-reaching impact in alleviating poverty.
Lumago means “to blossom” in the national Filipino language, and was founded by an American Social worker, Whitney Fleming, in 2011 when a huge typhoon devastated parts of the impoverished community on our city’s dumpsite.
Subsequently to find another source of income, a group of women from the community learned to make beads rolled from paper. These dedicated and determined women took it upon themselves to start producing and designing jewelry that Whitney would then sell to the local resorts.
Unfortunately the demand for these products locally could not keep up and they had to reach out to other markets for the project to be sustainable.
They decided to blossom and that’s when Lumago Designs, the social enterprise, was born!
We believe that giving new life to used materials is a small, but important step in preserving our environment.
Today, Lumago Designs has expanded from the paper beads and includes many other up cycled materials including polished pull-tabs from cans, patterned fabric from discarded clothes, soft leather from old purses, recycled bamboo, and torn out magazine pages. We are proud to say that the designs are our own and we will not stop looking for creative and fashionable ways to turn trash into treasures.
Sourcing our materials locally has created another income revenue for this community and as we continue creating new designs we anticipate that other materials will be sourced, thus spreading the revenue net even further.
We believe that being socially responsible means being an ambassador for change.
Lumago Designs is a cooperative between the Lumago Ladies & owners Becky Stanbridge (UK) and her partner Spencer Dempsey (US).
"We are very passionate about everything that Lumago stands and strives for, Lumago would not exist without it's strong beliefs. We support these women not just by paying them a fair wage but by investing profits back into the community so they don’t just have a job, they also have a livelihood.
All of the designs are born from the minds of the women themselves; we provide them with workshops, design days, and materials to help enrich their inspirations, which means when you buy Lumago you are not buying a mass produced item you are investing in one-of-a-kind pieces of art.
