Capiz and calamansi
Steffanie Ball
From my kitchen in Melbourne, the minute I taste calamansi I’m transported to a time and place. Warm, humid nights in the carinderia. It’s alive with kids playing in the street, someone is playing guitar and singing a Tagalog love ballad. I’m eating pancit sitting next to my cousins, Titas and Tito. I’m comforted by their memory, feeling them close to me as we share a meal. Calamansi transports me to a time with my loved ones who have long gone, to a place where my heart belongs.
Born and raised on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria by a Filipino mother and Austrian father, Steffanie Ball found a reconnection with her Filipino roots through En Gold, a design-led, contemporary furniture brand she co-founded in 2018 with her husband, Matt Ball. It celebrates and represents the traditional craftsmanship of the Philippines, and gives back to its makers through their non-profit Hiraya Foundation, inspired by her Mother's spirit of balikbayan.