Lombok fabrics survive desperately

Lombok fabrics survive desperately

By Agni Amorita

JAKARTA (JP): The magic of weft ikat has attracted the world's
leading fashion designers, such as John Galliano in his l996/1997
glittering collection.

But on Lombok island, West Nusa Tenggara province, where these
elaborate textiles are also produced, there is no smell of
glamour.

Like other textile-producing areas of Indonesia, the life of
most weavers in Sukarara village, Loteng area, is desperate.

The village, which has a population of 2,880 people, has long
known as a center for traditional Sasak single- and double-weft
ikat textiles. The Sasak people are the island's indigenous
inhabitants.

All family members participate in the making of the textiles.
Teenage girls and boys prepare raw materials such as ginger, used
as a natural dyeing solution, to create yellow-colored ikat,
while their mothers spin the thread using modest traditional
looms.

The textile making process in this village is labor-intensive
work. Men boil almost finished fabrics to make the color last
longer. Small children have their own jobs -- collecting raw
material from playgrounds. Or sometimes their parents ask them to
play near drying textiles, to keep chickens or cattle away.

The textile making process is very simple.

Threads come from silk-cotton trees. For coloring, the
villagers use natural vegetation, fruits and flowers.

Ginger is used to create yellow, coconut for red, mangosteen
for purple or violet, the tarum leaf for blue and jara oil for
brown.

The threads are dyed using these substances and boiled in
water repeatedly to achieve the desired colors.

The colored threads are delicately woven using a traditional
loom locally called a suri. The most difficult part of the
weaving process is designing motifs without using a pattern. Most
of the village's older women have mastered this skills.

Ina Alisah, 70, works no less than eight hours a day. "Almost
all adult female members start weaving from dawn till dusk," Ina
Alisah explained in the local language while finishing a piece of
textile, a special order from a Japanese tourist.

Ina Alisah received no formal education and speaks only Sasak.
"It usually takes her three months to finish one piece of double-
weft ikat," her grandson, Amien, added.

A single-weft ikat is simpler than a double-weft one. It
contains only one motif on one side, while the double weft has
two or more different motifs and color on each side of the cloth.

One piece of cloth is sold for between Rp 700,000 and Rp 1
million.

The most expensive ikat has an ancient motif called subanale
and is believed to be sacred.

"The motif was first created by our ancestors," explained
Muharim, who runs a traditional Sasak fabric store in Sukarara.

The word subanale was first introduced by village clerics who
kept uttering the word Subhannallah (Praise be to God) while
producing the cloth during their spare time.

People were amazed with its beautiful, bold design and
harmonious combination of white, yellow and blue tones.

The Sasak people later adopted the word Subhannallah into
subanale.

Lombok ikat fabrics are very delicate and require careful
treatment. "To properly treat ikat, one should only wash it by
hand and only scrub the inside part of the textile," explained
Amin.

Many Sasak people, especially the youth, wear modern clothes
like jeans and T-shirts, but traditional ikat textiles are still
widely worn by the community, especially during rituals.

Girls often combine a tubular ikat sarong with colorful and
trendy T-shirts. The older ones wear ikat with traditional
lambong blouse.

"Actually, it is very comfortable to wear ikat, particularly
during dry and hot weather," said Uciek, a local teenager.

Demand for Lombok ikat is very high. The fabrics are usually
sold on neighboring Bali where tourists buy them at high prices,
often for millions of rupiah a piece.

Uciek said that people have started to recognize the village
as one of the most productive ikat centers, yet only a few people
come to the village.

One day, Uciek recalled, a South American tourist visited his
village, eager to buy ikat. He did not have enough rupiah to pay
his bill, and offered to pay by credit card. The villagers did
not accept plastic.

For Uciek and his fellow villagers in Sukarara, the road to
prosperity is still rocky.