Embroidery show features local designs

Embroidery show features local designs

JAKARTA (JP): From cotton piano covers in bright blues and
greens to fashionable Japanese silk kebaya (blouses), the three-
week embroidery exhibition at the Sari Pan Pacific Hotel in
Central Jakarta is definitely worth a visit.

Organized by the Association of Indonesian Embroidery
Industries (Asindo) and the hotel, the exhibition began yesterday
and will end July 31. It features relatively inexpensive
embroidery works ranging from kebaya, household textiles,
patchwork and accessories like selendang (shawls) and batik
slippers.

Asindo chairwoman Mien Soeharyono said about 30 companies
nationwide would exhibit works with "nationalistic features".

She added: "We have Ulos designs from North Sumatra... then
there are the designs from West Sumatra, South Sulawesi, West
Java and many more.

"The workers who worked on them are from West Java, South
Sulawesi, West Sumatra and North Sumatra."

Prices depend on quality, workmanship, various designs and
color compositions, Mien said.

"It may be from the (renowned embroidery center) Tasikmalaya
in West Java, but if the quality is low, prices are cheap."

Mien added the exhibition started with 11 companies exhibiting
their goods.

Designer Aghan from Surabaya, East Java, said her silk and
chiffon kebaya ranged from Rp 225,000 to Rp 350,000 while R.
Siswanto Zagoto of Jakarta's Kartika Zagoto Collections said that
his bedspreads, tablecloths, covers of dispensers and
refrigerator handles were priced between Rp 20,000 and Rp 90,000.

"My wife Susiliana is the designer and most of our workers are
from Java," Siswanto said.

Most works of Eveline Sinaga from Arta Nauli Handicrafts,
Tebing Tinggi, North Sumatra, were cross-stitches. Bedcovers here
reached Rp 500,000.

Netty of Netty Embroidery at Jl. Ciragul, South Jakarta, said
that some of the traditional blouses she sold ranged from Rp
750,000 to Rp 1 million as the fabric used was silk from Japan,
Korea and China.

Batiks with traditional gold prada overlays were featured in
most stands. Others boasted simple floral and butterfly designs.

Mien said the exhibition expected to attract overseas buyers
due to the prolonged crisis at home.

"I'm talking about exports. We are quite ready for that, we
know their tastes," Mien said.

"We know about Middle Eastern designs, like ornaments from
Jeddah, Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan, whereas the Japanese (for
household textiles) prefer designs of fruits, the Cendrawasih
bird, fish and cocks crowing in very soft colors." (ylt)