Lumago Designs

Lumago Designs employs women from an impoverished area in the Philippines who handcraft upcycled jewelry in the Philippines for an eco friendly and ethical market worldwide. Lumago blossomed out of the Dumaguete dumpsite in September 2012 with the aspiration to offer the mothers in this community an opportunity to a creative, safe, fair and sustainable income. We are a social enterprise that creates jewelry out of recyclable materials. Whitney, the founder of Lumago Designs, started a feeding program for the children in this Visayan village in June 2011. The success of the program depended on the mothers to organize and volunteer to cook and serve the daily meal. Over the course of the year she learned about their lack of income generating opportunities contrasted against their creative talents and determination to provide for their families. Lumago Designs is a socially responsible business with a bottom line of people, planet and profit. The mothers formed the Lumago Ladies Cooperative and hold shares in this business. Being socially minded is just as important as being environmentally aware for Lumago. We craft all of our products out of recyclable materials. Currently, we upcycle five materials: leather, pulltabs, bamboo, clothing and magazines. Some elements you might be familiar with, like our paper beads made out of magazines. But some are quite unique, like our leather that is handpicked from discarded designer bags and refashioned.