Pesta Tenun celebrates Acehnese handicraft
Pesta Tenun celebrates Acehnese handicraft
Emmy Fitri, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Although she lives in Jakarta, Rahma Harun's business was ruined by the earthquake and tsunami in Aceh.
Aceh had been the main market for her embroidery products.
"I'd just sent (embroidery) stocks to some distributors there a few days before I heard about the news of the tsunami," said Rahma, a native of Banda Aceh who has lived here for 15 years.
"I have had to start (the business) all over again from zero," she said. One way she has survived was by cutting production costs, she said.
Rahma said she understood that for the survivors in the province, beautiful embroidered clothes or wall hangings were not a priority.
Cut Lynda Agus' business, meanwhile, was supplied from Aceh. Her decoratively embroidered Acehnese bags, tunics and wall hangings were made in the province and sold in her Jakarta boutique.
"My products are from Lhokseumawe and, thank God, the people and their talented hands have survived the tsunami. They are still producing and we are helping them by supplying them with raw materials," Lynda said.
Both Rahma and Lynda were met by The Jakarta Post at the Pesta Tenun 2005 (Traditional Weaving Expo 2005) at the Sahid Jaya Hotel in Central Jakarta.
This year's exhibition, jointly organized by the non government organizations working in cultural issues Yayasan Sekar Saji Nusantara and Mamuli, highlights Acehnese weaving. Proceeds from the ticket sales will go into the development of weaving centers in the province.
"We have deliberately chosen this theme, Aceh's Inspiration, in a bid to revive and to salvage the traditional weaving in Aceh," the exhibition executive chairperson Okke Hatta Rajasa said.
Weaving and embroidery have long been part of Aceh's traditional textile industry, which dates back to the "golden era" of Sultan Iskandar Muda. During his reign, trade flourished with Islamic countries like Turkey and Persia.
The influence of Turkey is strongly seen in the motifs and the use of prime colors of red, green, yellow and black.
"One of weaving centers in Gampong Siem was lost now. Many weaving artisans perished in the tsunami. It's a great loss for us all because we have to start again from nothing and it's not an easy job," Okke said.
Besides a bazaar with 120 stands that showcases ethnic clothes, handicraft and accessories from throughout the country, Pesta Tenun also displays rare antique cloth from Aceh, some of it more than 100 years old.
Teguh from Dharma Mulia Galleries said antique clothes -- found in Langsa, Gayo and Pidie -- and accessories of between 80 and 100 years old were sold in the exhibition.
"One hundred percent of the proceeds of this sale will go to the tsunami survivors as this is our way to show our concern," he said.
Also on show is an ancient Indian cloth, owned by Austria-born Gunter Weber, which was later overlaid in the Gayo region with magnificent gold thread embroidered motifs. Although they are abstract patterns, it is believed that the motifs are the forms of cumi-cumi (squids).
The textile was selected by Jasleen Dhamija, a famous textile expert from India, for the exhibition at a Jakarta museum in 2002. In her book, Woven Magic (the Affinity between Indian and Indonesian Textiles), Dhamija also highlights her theories of how the textiles evolved.
Acehnese food and dance are also featured at the event that runs until March 31.