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)