The Kutler Center Junior Fellowship Program awarded Zoe Fribourg ’24 a grant of $4,000 to travel to Cebu and Manila in the Philippines. Fribourg researched ancient weaving textiles that are still in use today.

During her time in the Philippines, Fribourg said she visited various factories. She said some made hand-crafted products, whereas others were more contemporary and used technology.

“One of the days in Cebu I went to this traditional factory, so they just had a bunch of women weaving on the traditional foot pedal machine,” Fribourg said. “I also went and saw a more modern factory with automatic machines to see how it progressed over time.”

 Fribourg said her trip allowed her to learn more about the history of the Philippines and its ancient weaving culture.

  “Obviously it just sounds like, ‘oh, that’s just how they made clothes back then,’ but there’s actually a lot of really cool history behind it,” Fribourg said.

Fribourg said she chose to study weaving because she enjoys crocheting and her mom is from the Philippines. She said she compiled her new knowledge and experience to create a magazine as her final project.

“I took photos throughout and interviewed a bunch of people and I’m putting that all in [the magazine],” Fribourg said. “It was really cool to learn about all of it.”