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Tulá means "poem" in Tagalog. In this spirit, Tula Designs is a practice of creation and community, offering gingerly handcrafted adornments inspired by the natural world, heritage and the lyrical human body.

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Both poems and adornment are ancient languages. They transform the body into a site of meaning, marking what matters - identity, protection, belonging, beauty, expression - conscious and cultivated.

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Both ask the body to carry what the spirit needs to say, arranging and rearranging its components and textures to suit. Armed with power. Formed by topologies of elements - living, lyrical, alive. A necklace at your throat, a poem on your tongue.

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Each piece I create by hand holds handpicked natural elements from land and sea - whether they're stones and gems metamorphosed under Earth’s surface, or parts of a tree like betel and buri nut, bayong wood or bamboo, or even treasures like pearl, shell pieces and bone recycled from noble creatures. Through an ancestral, animistic lens, I honor every component’s living and energetic material existence.

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All packaging materials are recyclable or biodegradable. All pieces are unique, and come with a care warranty for free adjustments, repairs or hardware replacements.  Bartering and service trade requests always welcome. More info can be found here. 

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A % of each drop's profits are donated to a mutual aid or grassroots organization - from  LA and the Philippines to Palestine. Your purchases so far have supported water trucks to Gaza, families impacted by ICE raids, and typhoon relief in the Philippines.

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Kelsey Lacanilao (Lakan Ilaw) is a lesbian, Aquarius sun and first-generation Filipino artist and designer born in Los Angeles. ​She started making jewelry as amulets, and as a way of feeling more connected with the Earth, her heritage & her body - to adorn it with self-made, carefully collected natural objects, stones, beads, and findings. ​

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In addition to creating, ruminating and oscillating, she works full time at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and has been an arts and culture administrator for 10 years. She is a former independent bookseller, and loves collecting many things - from knick knacks, sacred objects, shells and rocks to rare books & even tatus on her body. She is a lifelong hungry learner committed to indigenous, anti-colonial values and finds reading a critical part of resistance labor. You can find links to free revolutionary/radical books here. 

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She lives with her life parter, their 2 rescue special needs pitbulls, 2 rescue cats and crested gecko. 

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