Designer Nelwan Anwar eyes European fashion market

By Maria Endah Hulupi

JAKARTA (JP): Textile artist and designer Nelwan Anwar is now eying Europe to market his designs after a successful show in Rome recently.

"I used the opportunity to display my works in front of potential clienteles in Europe. It was aimed at introducing a blend of natural fibers and silk as materials for haute couture," he said at his workshop in the Tebet area, South Jakarta.

During his second show in Italy last December, local fashion critics were interested to learn more about Nelwan's effort to promote natural fibers.

"Many of them remained in their seats even after the lights were out. They appreciated my designs and the natural fibers I used in the material," Nelwan said, adding that the whole process is done by hand, a technique which is highly valued by the European fashion world.

Since he graduated from the Jakarta Arts Institute in 1979, Nelwan has shown deep interest in experimenting with fabric from natural fibers.

Nelwan further developed this material when he worked as an assistant to one of Indonesia's couturiers Harry Dharsono from l981 to 1987.

The designer won the Indonesian Fashion Competition in l986, a turning point in his career. Nelwan has been very active in creating experimental fabrics and has held a series of fashion shows both in local and international stages including in the United States, Latin America and Europe.

Nelwan thanks the Indonesian Ambassador to Italy Rachmad Soendoroe who had introduced his works to Italian designer Micol Fontana, of the famous Fontana sisters and who later helped arrange his Rome show.

Successful fashion shows and a flourishing business are not enough for Nelwan. His obsession is to publish a book about the history of natural fibers in cloth production. The planned book may also elaborate the process of threading and weaving that material into exquisite fabrics. The planned book will likely increase people's awareness and appreciation of the preservation of traditional textiles.

"I need sponsors to finance the book project," he said, describing the project as a chance not only to promote his work but to preserve the tradition as well.

He describes his own work as a time consuming process as it requires two to three months from producing a piece of fabric and applying hand stitched details before it ends up as an haute couture outfit.

Nelwan learned about the traditional way of threading natural fibers from a craftsman in Pekalongan in Central Java who has successfully created employment for dozens of jobless people in the area. The craftsman started using fibers derived from banana tree, water hyacinth, pineapple fibers and horse hair as raw material for delicate cloth.

The work involves hundreds of people who have mastered the skill of using the traditional method of weaving the thread, rarely used since the Japanese occupation in l940s.

"It is a pity if we fail to preserve this traditional weaving technique because it will soon be completely forgotten," he said.

The government, he added, should be aware of the country's natural and human resources potential.

Local youth can be trained to learn the basic knowledge of how to choose various raw materials, to remove fibers by using simple equipment, like a cutter and their hands and to mix them with silk into a fine thread.

Nelwan pointed out that the most delicate part of the production phase is choosing the right raw material, to make sure that fibers will be of prime quality.

Ideally, young plants should not be used in the raw material as they contain excessive moisture, thus making it prone to decay and they should not be too mature so that it would later require extra handling.

"How it starts will define the end result," said the designer, who loves painting and gardening.

In his effort to create fine fabrics and get the most out of these natural fibers, Nelwan allocates funds from the profits derived from sales to finance research on natural fibers.

"There is an abundance of natural fibers and ample wild flowers in our forests that could be transformed into fabulous, glossy garment material. We are working on it," he said.

When designing, Nelwan envisions himself as a painter who regards a piece of cloth as canvas. He derives his source of inspiration from natural elements.

Nelwan might have fallen in love with nature during the hardship he experienced in his childhood. He had to cultivate various plants for daily consumption in his grandmother's fields.

"My childhood experience brought me close to the beauty of nature," he said.