We pull on our clothes every morning without a thought for the thousands of years of learning that lie behind that ordinary cotton shirt or woven scarf. But the textiles that clothe us and decorate our homes evolved through eons of research and expertise.
It’s a toss-up whether the world’s first industry was pottery or weaving. As soon as Ibu Homo Sapiens figured out that cooked food and warm garments made life a lot more comfortable, she began to experiment with the raw materials around her to devise cooking vessels and clothing. The results live on in many pockets of Indonesia.
There’s no record of the complex skills and techniques involved in locating the right kind of fibre and then spinning, dying and weaving it into an intricate cloth. The tropical climate and voracious insect life of Indonesia doesn’t permit the survival of fragile textiles beyond a few generations. But when spun threads and woven cotton were found in a dry, 4,000 year old tomb in Mongolia, the textiles were still in good condition and natural dyes still vibrant.
The East Nusa Tenggara region of Indonesia is a cradle of expertise in complicated dying and weaving techniques. Its ikats are fiendishly complex in strategy and construction, with many taking years to complete. Women weave the fabric of their societies both literally and figuratively. Along with the physical threads, they hold in their hands is the threads of their culture. The weavings’ motifs are rich in cultural lore, ceremony and tradition. Many are still used as bride-wealth and in ceremonies for house raisings and funerals.
"Tying, dying and weaving a textile over many years brings a lot of life-force energy to the piece," says textile expert Made Lolet, who has been studying Indonesian dying and weaving for years. "The finished textiles hold a lot of power."
Young women today aren’t interested in spending years producing a single piece of cloth, leaving that labour-intensive task to their mothers and grandmothers. But as the older women die, the rich tradition of spinning, tying, dying and weaving ritual textiles in this country will probably disappear within a generation.
There’s another reason the traditional weaving has been laid aside. The ripple effect of Indonesia’s monetary crisis that began in 1997 soon reached even the remote shores of East Nusa Tenggara. The impact would have been slight a generation ago in these communities where barter economies were the norm. Barter is still common, but now people need cash to send their children off-island for schooling and to purchase essential commodities. Not only have the women begun to sell their traditional ritual textiles for much-needed cash, they are now too busy producing cheap weavings for both the tourist and local markets to create the time-consuming heritage textiles. The market demand is for cheap, small weavings using chemical dyes and pre-spun fibre.
Threads of Life, an Ubud-based organization, was created in 1998 to sustain the traditional textile arts of Indonesia and to educate the world’s crafts markets about the true value of these unique textiles. It has become a remarkable little centre of excellence that helps keep East Nusa Tenggara’s natural dying and weaving traditions alive.
Balinese staff members of Threads of Life visit remote communities on a two-fold mission. They interview the weavers to collect data on the traditional techniques used to spin, tie, dye and weave the textiles, and they commission the women to create new pieces of museum quality for sale to collectors. The women are paid a deposit to sustain them during the long process of producing the textiles, and the balance when the cloth is delivered. This recognition of and reward for creating traditional textiles is now bringing young women back to the dying vats and the looms.
The intricate process of creating a traditional textile is almost unbelievably labour-intensive. The fibres are selected, spun, placed on a frame, then meticulously bundled and tied off to create the desired pattern. The weaver does this by imagining the three dimensions of the entire finished piece as she ties each group of threads to resist the dye.
Then natural dyes are collected and processed according to jealously-held secret recipes. The indigo bush produces blue and the tiba tree produces red tones. Another wood brings a tan colour to the spectrum, and brown is derived from roots and mud. This is the full palette of the traditional weaver, who adjusts the tones according to the length of time and number of trips to the dye vat.
Threads of Life has created a Textile Arts Centre in Ubud, with an Educational Studio demonstrating each step of the intricate dying and weaving process, as well as displaying textiles for sale and an engaging collection of photographs taken on the various trips to the islands. Classes are offered periodically on textile appreciation and natural dye techniques, with delicious Balinese food available from the Rumah RODA Restaurant above the Centre.
Baliphiles will be delighted to find several characters from Williams Ingram’s book "A Little Bit One O’Clock" playing active roles in the Threads of Life initiative. Made Lolet, Made Pung and Wayan Weti are deeply inspired by the depth of knowledge and commitment demonstrated by the women they work with in Flores, West Timor, Lembata, Sumba, Sulawesi and Bali. They are helping to gather a virtual encyclopaedia of research on traditional techniques, natural dyes and motifs in East Nusa Tenggara.
The work of Threads of Life sustains this ancient tradition in village-based development projects that address women’s issues, poverty alleviation, micro-finance needs, and environmental and cultural sustainability. The crafts market is informed through the activities of the Textile Arts Centre in Bali and overseas exhibitions. As this article goes to press, an exhibition of commissioned textiles is being prepared for the Mary Place Gallery in Sydney, Australia, between July 22 and August 2.
Like so many valuable activities in Indonesia, this initiative depends on donations and the sale of textiles by the weavers supported by Threads of Life. Ideas for funding or new concepts to sustain tradition textiles are warmly welcomed.
Visit the Textile Arts Centre at Jalan Kajeng 24 in Ubud, visit the website at www.threadsoflife.com or contact the Centre directly at tac@threadsoflife.com
