The one-of-a-kind bags of Aranaz Delujo

With the time it takes her and her artisans on product development, designer Amina Aranaz Alunan only comes out with her high-end Aranaz Delujo bags once a year. Earlier this month, before an intimate, by-invitation-only gathering of friends and clients, Alunan unveiled her new collection of evening bags, minaudieres, clutches, cuffs, and the distinctive coconut bags that made the brand famous.

The new collection consists of 10 bag styles and four cuffs, made from locally sourced materials—predominantly gold-plated brass mixed with natural materials such as coconut, hand-carved wood and shells. The bags are embellished with semi-precious stones and decorated with oversized flowers and other intricate moldings.

Alunan, who won Best in Fashion Accessories award at the Hong Kong-based trade exhibit APLF for Aranaz Delujo, only produced 12 bags for each style—and they are not for the cost-conscious, with prices ranging from P10,000 to P25,000.

The coconut bag—usually referred to as the Delujo piece—is the centerpiece of the collection, and at least one of them now graces the arm of Hollywood star Sarah Jessica Parker, on whom Alunan bestowed a Lily coconut bag. “It is such a unique piece that she won't find anywhere else in the world,” she says.
To create the Delujo bags, the designer first selects coconuts with the right texture, shape and scale and with the fewest imperfections and blemishes.

The nuts then go through the painstaking process of being turned into luxury accessories: they are primed, and their insides removed. They are then colored or polished before being sent to the company's brass artisan for the application of the gold. The inner lining is then applied. Alunan, who created the Delujo line for creative reasons—"I wanted an outlet for my creative fantasies"—is now considering whether to keep having coconut bags in future collections.

“Perhaps. I may find new uses for the coconut,” she says.

Last year, Alunan came out with Nudos, a bag collection she created for the social enterprise brand Rags2Riches, whom the designer has been collaborating with since 2009.— with a report by China Jocson/BM, GMA News

Photos courtesy of Aranaz Delujo.