Weaving Noken as Papuan Wastra

Jayapura (ANTARA) - Agusta Bunai, together with 11 models, appeared wearing noken fashion in a fashion show. They displayed various outfits made from two main materials, namely natural fibres and yellow orchids taken from the customary territories of Lapago (La Pago) and Meepago (Mee Pago) in the mountainous region of Papua.

Agusta is a local ethnic Papuan noken fashion designer. As a native Papuan woman, Agusta is required to be able to weave noken. She has been learning to make noken since she was in primary school.

Noken is not merely a traditional bag used by the Papuan people to carry various daily necessities. Behind every woven strand of fibre lies knowledge, cultural values, identity, and stories about the life of the Papuan people passed down from generation to generation.

Thanks to her perseverance, this woman born in Wamena on 19 August 1985 has succeeded in bringing noken to the world stage through fashion. For her, noken, which has been inscribed by UNESCO, must continue to be preserved, so that the younger generation of Papua has the homework of continuing to weave in order to maintain noken as a heritage.

Noken is not only a handcraft but is a symbol of identity, perseverance, the relationship between humans and nature, and the strength of Papuan tradition. Weaving noken means weaving the past with the present, while opening the way for Papuan cultural heritage to continue to have a place in the future.

From this, Agusta began to dream of becoming a fashion designer who could weave noken into clothing as Papuan wastra. In this way, at every national agenda or official government activity, all officials would wear noken, not only on the traditional stage but also on other unlimited stages.

Since 2016, she began to focus on designing ethnic Papuan clothing from noken and to this day there has been much demand, not only limited to carnival events and fashion shows but also official events, such as weddings with an ethnic nuance or the 17 August 2026 commemoration ceremony.