Tasikmalaya handicrafts go worldwide

Tasikmalaya handicrafts go worldwide

By Y.R. Prahista

TASIKMALAYA, West Java (JP): The overseas market for
handicraft products from Tasikmalaya is experiencing terrific
expansion.

"Dutch and American women are very attracted to bags made from
plaited pandanus leaves," said Haj Sahudin, showing off a number
of such bags.

The owner of the Pandan Jaya handicraft workshop in
Manggungsari village, about 15 kilometers west of Tasikmalaya,
employs scores of craftsmen. Sahudin buys raw material in the
form of rara, i.e. pandanus leaves three to four millimeters in
width and with a length of one meter. For the inside of the bags,
the width of the leaves can reach eight millimeters.

The wet pandanus leaves are boiled in water and left to soak
overnight, before being dried out the next day. The drying
process is a vital step in obtaining the best material for the
bags.

The leaves are purchased from middlemen from outside the
region. The leaves are sold to local craftsmen, who sell their
semifinished products back to the middlemen.

Plaited pandanus leaves are not the only products Sahudin
exports to the Netherlands and the U.S. "Last month we sent one
container of ijuk (palm fiber) brooms to the two countries," he
said.

Tasikmalaya exports a dazzling variety of handicraft products.
They include wooden sandals and small wooden chairs, embroidery
products and angklung instruments, typical Sundanese musical
instruments made of bamboo.

Most exported handicraft products from the area use pandanus,
bamboo and mendong as raw materials. Thes three types of plants
are readily found in the region. Bamboo and pandanus grow in the
fields and require no special care. Mendong grows in swampy areas
and wet ricefields. It is a kind of wild grass with a height of
more than one meter and a width of about 0.5 centimeters.

Villagers in the Tasikmalaya region have long used the three
plants for making handicrafts. Kitchenware like rice containers
are made of plaited bamboo, and the rural Sundanese population
uses plaited bamboo for the walls of their houses. Pandanus and
mendong leaves serve as the raw materials for mats.

In the beginning the handicraft products from the region were
only made using traditional methods. "We continued the traditions
of our parents," said Ibu Simah, a craftswoman from Rajapolah.

Like the majority of the craftspeople, Simah has a limited
formal education, which ended after grade school. She learned
plaiting from her parents, who made handicrafts from plaited
bamboo and pandanus. The handicraft work is done in her spare
time, after she finishes working in the ricefield.

The handicraft products are generally goods with low economic
value. In order to develop handicraft products with added value,
the West Java branch of the Industrial Agency and National
Handicraft Council is endeavoring to introduce new designs to the
craftspeople. "In order to seize market opportunities, the
designs of the handicraft products must meet the consumers'
tastes, the quality must comply with the prevailing standards and
the prices must be reasonable," said Mrs. H.R. Nuriana,
chairwoman of the West Java branch of the agency.

This means that the prices must not only be suitable for
consumers, but also feasible for the craftspeople. Handicraft
goods are produced in nearly all regions in West Java, but
Nuriana thinks the handicrafts in Tasikmalaya are the most
varied. She also believes these handicrafts have the potential to
be developed into a profitable business.

Contributing factors to this potential are the variety of the
area's art and culture, the skill of the craftspeople and the
richness of the surrounding environment, which provides the
needed raw materials. Besides, Tasikmalaya handicraft products
are generally well-known in the market, at home as well as
abroad.

"A survey has shown that despite the economic crisis, the
majority of craftspeople have been able to survive," she said.

Many of these craftspeople have even experienced an increase
in turnover and profit. This is especially true for craftspeople
with a hand in foreign markets. Also, because the majority of the
raw materials needed for the products are found in the
surrounding area, the handicrafts are more competitive.

Tasikmalaya is located about 105 kilometers east of Bandung.
The region has long been a center of handicraft production.
Embroidery is done in 25 villages, mendong handicraft in 20
villages, bamboo handicraft in 18 villages and pandanus
handicraft in 10 villages.

Additionally there are craftspeople making handicraft products
from wood. Wooden sandals, for example, have long since succeeded
in winning the hearts of women. Given the added touch of special
designs for the sandals, they have been able to penetrate foreign
markets.

Formerly, plaited pandanus and mendong leaves were only used
to make sleeping mats, especially in rural areas. The type and
design of the mats did not undergo any changes for years, and
eventually they began to lose their market to factory-made
plastic mats. But now, plaited pandanus leaves are being used to
create other types of goods. With less raw material, plaited
pandanus leaves are turned into beauty cases, women's bags and
many other items.

Many people would not believe that the pandanus hats used by
golfers in Japan, are the products of craftsmen in Rajapolah. The
craftsmen make semi-finished products and sell them to a factory
for final processing.

With local raw materials the Tasikmalaya craftspeople are
capable of creating just about any type of product. Plaited
mendong leaves are made into hampers, stationery containers, etc.
Even the walini grass which grows wild in swampy areas, after
being processed into packing material for liquor bottles, can be
exported to Italy.

In the 1998/1999 period, the export of handicraft products
from this region amounted to more than Rp 2.573 billion. The
products were exported to the U.S., Japan, Australia, France,
Italy, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Malaysia and a
number of other European countries. However, the export figures
do not quite reflect the actual situation. A number of suppliers
say they send their products for export through contacts in
Jakarta or Bali.

As evidenced by the export figures and the number of
destination countries, the interest from abroad in these products
is sizable. Embroidered clothes from the area are big sellers in
the Middle East.

"Every month we send one container of embroidered clothes to
the Middle East," said a supplier.

Another supplier is preparing an order of four containers of
stationery articles made of mendong leaves. "Britain has ordered
office equipment made of mendong," Rajapolah said.

Suppliers purchase the handicraft products from the
craftspeople, who do not have direct contact with the foreign
buyers. It is the exporters in Jakarta and Bali who send the
handicraft products to destinations abroad.

Greater opportunities have yet to be created to make full use
of the potential afforded by the wide availability of raw
materials. Tasikmalaya and the other regions of West Java have
vast areas of land for the cultivation of bamboo, pandanus and
mendong plants. This potential has so far not been fully
developed because making handicraft products is considered a side
job.

This attitude has led to a lack of interest in handicraft
products by designers, so these goods rarely take on new and
exciting designs. This is to be regretted because the three types
of raw materials used in the area are flexible enough to
accommodate almost all shapes and designs.