Exhibition and seminar to promote traditional textiles

JAKARTA (JP): The National Museum will hold an international seminar and exhibition next week to portray the virtue of Indonesia's traditional textiles, something which Indonesians tend to underestimate.

The museum's chief Suwati Kartiwa told reporters yesterday that many museums around the world use their collection of Indonesian cloths as the main point of reference and subject of study.

Indonesian traditional textile industry has also been the subject of seminars outside Indonesia, including in Washington DC in 1979 and in Koeln, Germany, in 1987, Suwati recalled.

The three-day international seminar on "Indonesian and other Asian textiles -- a common heritage" will open at Hotel Indonesia on Monday morning. It will feature 30 speakers from 11 countries: The United States, Australia, the Netherlands, Germany, Britain, Denmark, Malaysia, Singapore, India, Poland and Indonesia.

The exhibition, which runs for a month, will open on Tuesday at the National Museum. It will present a total of 189 cloths from the museum's own collection, those of outside collectors, embassies and members of the Indonesian Fashion Designers Council (IFDC).

IFDC Syamsidar Isa said the seminar and the exhibition are expected to improve the prospects of the cottage industry which produces traditional cloths.

"I've done some research on traditional textiles in the eastern part of Indonesia and found the conditions of the industry appalling," Syamsidar said. "They need support to improve their industry."

The IFDC will also be organizing fashion shows to display the applications of traditional cloths, including those from East Timor and traditional batiks from Java, during the exhibition. Twenty-two designers will be taking part, including Thomas Sigar, Ghea Sukarya, Chossy Latu and Itang Yunasz. (emb/pwn)