Narda Capuyan's success story began 30 years ago in La Trinidad, Benguet, a town in the Northern Philippines, with a simple hobby of weaving blankets and recycling acrylic yarns. Narda, a family planning nurse, encouraged the women in her town to weave so as to keep them busy and distract them from making more babies. Her alternative method of family planning eventually became a success, as did her weaving business. From weaving blankets she moved on to weaving bedspreads, draperies, and upholstery fabrics. The grand Pines Hotel and Hyatt Terraces Hotel in Baguio City, as well as the Manila Hilton, Manila Hotel, and the Philippine Village Hotel, were some of her first big clients.

Inspired by the Ifugao blanket, she started to look at the weave as an art form and started to experiment with the methods of Ikat - an ancient tenchnique of tying and dyeing segments of threads before weaving them together. Designing and dyeing threads in vibrant colors, Narda's new creations - bags, shawls, scarves, placemats, and rugs were a worldwide export success. Japanese and American designers were her first buyers, and her first export bag was featured in Women's Wear Daily in New York City.

Narda's big break came in 1982, when Bloomingdale's in New York decided to feature Narda's products in an all-Philippine sales exhibition which eventually traveled as far as Washington, D.C. Subsequent trips abroad for more shows popularized Narda's artistic creations and brought her work to Germany, France, Hong Kong, Canada, and Australia. Neiman Marcus, Lord and Taylor, Marchal Fields, J.C. Penney in the U.S. and Hudson's Bay in Canada were some of Narda's earliest international clients.

The highly innovative direction of her work garnered for Narda the Golden Shell Award in 1982 - given to her by the Philippine Ministry of Trade for excellence in exports and for reviving a dying indigenous art. Many other awards followed, such as the Country Side Investor Award presented to Narda by former President Corazon Aquino in 1989, and the Agora Award for outstanding achievement in export marketing. In 1999, Narda Capuyan was selected as one of The 100 Women of the Philippines who have excelled in their work and contributed to national development.

Narda's latest ventures include a decor line of rustic furniture and home accessories, and an Art Collection of woven leather wall hangings and tapestry art work.

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