THE MAKING OF SAMBAS TEXTILE
Joseph Fisher, a textile analyst published a book; Threads of Tradition: Textile of Indonesia and Sarawak, stating that the weaving product with the richest diversity in the world are coming from Indonesia. So, I've decided to share my knowledge with you about the beauty of Sambas woven textiles this time.
Sambas Sultanate ancestors have made the fabric since 300 years ago. Sultan Sulaiman founded his empire in 1675, and Sambas woven fabric used as a complementary ritual. He also facilitated the artisans to produce the fabrics as evidence of his concern for cultural survival in Sambas at times.
Weaving tradition is continued by the men and women. It's done through the process of crossing two threads by entering the feed yarn at warp yarns. In the meantime, they will begin the process of Penghanian.
Penghanian is the process of installing Lungsing threads in parallel on a loom in accordance with the width of the fabric. Meanwhile, the yarn feed will be inserted between the Lungsing threads. Plain, Satin and Keper are the main three technics they usually use in the making of Sambas textile.
There are interesting things that I know about weaving. To create a motif, the artisans need to memorize formulas as they're required to work carefully and not allowed to finish it quickly. The job requires real patience because it took approximately a month long or more, depending on the complexity of the motif they create.
Sambas woven fabric buyers usually come from Singkawang and Pontianak, and besides that, many tourists came from Malaysia and Brunei to simply buy the fabrics. Travelers who admire the work of our artisans didn't hesitate to employ most of our people in Sambas to produce woven fabric in accordance of the design that they want.
My admiration doesn't end up there. Indeed, many fashion designers from big cities like Jakarta would eagerly visit Desa Harapan to order certain motifs because of the values that the fabrics held. But I honestly think the hardships they've taken to maintain the stability between their regular job as a farmer and an artist is very worthy of our respect too.
Perseverance and hard work in supporting their own family and the culture they held to can lead this nation to be more advanced, more recognized and appreciated by the nation's next generation and the foreign communities. Sambas woven textile is a symbol of pride and evidence of many potentials that we have in this beloved country.