The blooming of a thousand flowers

There’s a twist to Mercy Tuason’s business. Proceeds go entirely to her favorite charities–the vocations program of the Franciscan friars and nuns of the Immaculate Conception and the Center for Peace, a non-profit organization inspired by the message of Our Lady of Medjugorje that only through prayer can world peace be achieved.

"There is donor fatigue even among those who regularly give. By selling them something they like, a donor gets back something while contributing to a bigger cause. It’s not a selfish thing, it’s a very human reaction," she said.

Tuason designs and glues flowers to bags. She personally goes to Divisoria to buy paper or fabric flowers and to Quiapo to buy the native bags. "I tried leather bags but the flowers wouldn’t stick," she said.

Inspiration

Sticking flowers to bags seemed like a natural progression for Tuason, who likes to pin flowers in her hair.

"It started during a time when I couldn’t sleep and was losing weight. Rather than toss in bed, I would fix the bedroom and rearrange things. Then, I started gluing my silk flowers to my bags," she said.

Tuason never got to carry around her creations for long. In social occasions, friends would ask her where she got the unusual bags and she would, then and there, give them away.

"It was my young grandson, Jose Fores, who suggested that I take money for the bags instead of giving them away," she said.

Operations

Tuason makes an average of two bags a night, the only time in the day when she is free of her social and philanthropic obligations.

"One night, I finished 30 giveaways . I worked up to three in the morning. I finished two and then asked my helpers to do the rest, following the pattern I made. But I had to re-do the 28 bags because they were not done correctly," she said.

"If she hired somebody, it will never be the same. Mercy is her work, which she is doing for her faith," said June Keithley-Castro, one of the primary movers behind Center for Peace which showcases and accepts orders for Tuason’s bags.

Most of Tuason’s bags are one-of-a-kind, based on the color scheme and kind of flowers selected by the buyers. The buyer can bring along their own bag or ask Tuason to include the cost of the bag in the final price computation, which is still significantly lower than similar made-in-Korea bags now found in flea markets.

In the case of another Forbes Park resident, Mila Puyat, paper-mache bags made by the mentally retarded were decorated by Tuason for resale in a charity function.