Lorico

This tension between the organic and the brutalist, the rural and the urban, the natural and the industrial continues to define Lorico's approach to design.

At Manila Fashion Week 2026, the designer returns to this intersection with a collection that looks back toward nature. It is both a return to familiar ground and an exploration of how opposing environments can coexist, collide, and create something new.

For Lorico, design is never fixed. The brand functions as an incubator for different ideas, disciplines, and forms of craftsmanship, continuously evolving through experimentation and contemporary expression.

Every collection begins with a story. What personal experience, emotion, or cultural

reference became the starting point for the collection you're presenting at Manila Fashion

Week?

I am a probinsyano. I grew up and learned so many things in my little hometown in Albay, Bicol. Moving to a big city like Manila was not just a new learning curve but also a way for me to explore new ideas, culture, and energy. The fusion of the rural and the urban gave birth to what i call now as the ethos of my brand. The intersection of what is raw and natural against what is brutalist and industrial. The collection I’m working on is a return to that clash of two different poles. A return to that union and realization, a return to nature.

Your work contributes to the evolving narrative of Filipino fashion. How do you define your

creative identity today, and how has it transformed since you first started designing?

I would like to see my brand as an incubator of different ideas, disciplines, and various versions of craftsmanship articulated in a contemporary and modern language. Design as well as one’s creative voice is never at rest. Like any type of energy, it only grows and expands to express itself in ways that the world needs to see.

Fashion is more than clothing—it's a reflection of culture, community, and individuality. What

conversation or feeling do you hope your collection sparks once it leaves the runway?

With everything that’s happening in the world, fashion, design, and art can serve as a temporary state that conjures an ideal world or frequency. My intention is to be able to share positive feelings and emotions through forms and propositions based on freedom and possibilities.

Can you share a moment from the creation process that challenged or surprised you?

Whether it was a material, silhouette, collaboration, or unexpected breakthrough, we'd love to

hear the story behind it.

Fabric for me is like water. It has its own life and voice if you try to pay enough attention. It still surprises me after so many years how a piece of woven material can express itself in various forms and iterations that doesn't just reflect the hands that manipulate them but as well as its own composition and origin.

Looking beyond this season, what do you hope your work contributes to the future of

Philippine fashion, and what legacy do you want your brand to leave for the next generation of

Creatives? 

I believe it is still early for someone like me to be discussing about legacy. But if there’s something i wasn't to impart to other creatives like me, it is the message of persistence, truth, and deep passion for whatever you choose to do.