TSHK sets up Traditional Indonesian Weaving Arts on Mar 16

01 Mar '06

2 min read

Textile Society of Hong Kong announces Traditional Indonesian Weaving Arts on March 16 : A Sustainable Rural Livelihood In 1998, after seeing women having to sell heirloom textiles during the economic crisis to pay their children's school fees, Jean Howe and William Ingram began Threads of Life, based in Ubud, Bali, as a Fairtrade business with the overall vision of sustainable rural livelihood for indigenous weaving communities.

This involved working with farmers to re-cultivate dye plants and with dyers to recover dye recipes, commissioning new textiles directly from women weavers who still knew how to weave the traditional textiles, as well as teaching classes on batik dyeing with indigo and the history, ritual use and meaning of textiles.

The Textile Society of Hong Kong has played a part in supporting these activities over the past two years to help revitalise the weaving and dyeing tradition that once thrived in the area.

Jean will be showing us a short video about the Indonesian Indigenous Weavers' Festival, a remarkable six-day event held in July 2005 and discussing the weavers' and dyers' progress with the plans made there.

She will also bring textiles for sale as well as copies of the Festival DVD and a newly released CD, Traditional Music of Watublapi, Flores.

Government Information Centre, Hong Kong

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