Sukarara gained a reputation during West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) province’s tourism boom in the 1980s as Lombok’s prime production centre for traditionally designed and woven fabrics.
And while many other Lombok communities have since developed a profile for their customary and colourful handicrafts including weaving, Sukarara’s pioneering spirit has secured its position as the prime destination for tourists wanting to examine and buy the island’s distinctive woven fabrics.
According to Intan Art Shop owner and manager Nizom, the weaving expertise of the Sukarara villagers is a legacy inherited through generations that today provides the livelihood of most village residents, especially the women.“For the women of Sukarara, weaving is a daily activity that has been passed down from generation to generation,” he says. “In fact, village girls generally start weaving at around age eight, when they are in their second or third year of elementary school.
” In early days, said Nizom, weaving was an additional activity performed by Sukarara women after they had returned from the fields and completed their daily chores. Nowadays, tourism development has turned their weaving into regular work and a prime source of income.
Nizom’s Intan Art Shop was established in 1992 and he inherited the craft business from his mother only a few years ago. Today he employs five weavers and has produced hundreds of motifs for various sized pieces of woven fabric.
Among the distinctive Sukarara motifs that characterise the island of Lombok, is Subahnala, which Nizom says is Lombok’s most ancient woven fabric design.
Other well-known designs include Wayang, Keker, Bintang Empat, Barong, Bulan Begantung and Lumbung – all representations of culturally significant influences such as traditional puppetry and dance, stars, the moon and rice barns.
Sukarara generally produces two sizes of fabric. Depending on the intricacy of the design, it takes about six or seven weeks to produce a sarong-sized length of 2 metres by 120 centimetres. Lengths of 4 metres by 60 centimetres are woven in only one or two weeks, says Nizom, because much simpler motifs are used. Price depends mostly on the complexity of the motif and the type of yarn used to weave the fabric. “In general, prices for a length of woven material can range from Rp200,000 up to Rp3 million for hand-woven silk with a complicated motif,” he said.
Nizom has worked with travel agents and tour operators to ensure a good spread of buyers across the year. “The local and domestic markets peak in December and January, during school holidays and the New Year season,” he said. “High season for foreign visitors coincides with peak tourism season during the European summer months of June, July and August.” As part of his business development strategy, Nizom participates in national and regional trade events such as promotions at the Jakarta Trade Centre, the Pekan Raya Jakarta fair and the NTB Expo handicrafts exhibition.
source:enchanting-lomboksumbawa.com
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