THREADS OF LIFE - empowering women through traditional weaving arts

Several times during this journey we've realized the importance of finding the right people to cooperate with. Our adventure in Bali wouldn't have been the same without Threads of Life - an Indonesian Textile Arts Center, getting us in contact with the weavers and helping us with practical issues, like finding our translator Gus.

  

Threads of Life is working together with more than 1000 women weavers in over 40 cooperatives throughout Indonesia. Their goal is to preserve and support the traditional weaving and natural dying skills by restoring pride in the Indonesian textile art and culture. Woven textiles have a long and significant cultural and spiritual tradition in Indonesia. But "as economic forces drive weavers to abandon time honored traditions, the arts degrade and so do the culture they express. Supporting the continuation of these arts demonstrates they have value in a modern, global context. This restores people's pride in their culture and ensures that the traditions supporting their physical and spiritual life continue". 

By working directly together with the weavers the women get a fair income from their work and are able to support their families. This also empowers the women's situation in a traditional man dominated society. Further does the use of natural dyes and handspun threads support local organic farming of cotton and other dye plants. 

By textile tours and educational exhibits, Treads of Life spreads the art of the Indonesian textiles to a global audience. Their inspiring textile gallery and shop in Ubud is definitely worth a visit. More information on their webpage: www.theradsoflife.com

 A big thank you to Gus - our dedicated and skillful translator

SISTERS OF SERAYA

In Seraya, a fishing village on Bali's east coast, weaving has been the main income for women for many generations. In the early days women were not allowed to get married before they knew the skills of weaving.  We went to Seraya to meet up with a group of weavers and learn the traditional process of natural dyeing. As English is poorly spoken in the area, we were grateful to have Gus, our personal interpreter, helping us to communicate with the women.

"Natural Dyers' and Weavers' Cooperative of Seraya" a privately run weaving and natural dyeing studio and the base for the local weaving cooperative within the village, involving about 200 women. The unique weaving technique for the area is called '' rang rang" and done in a back strap loom. Most of the women do the weaving at home and get paid a set price per textile. For the young women working in the weaving studio however, the social aspect is important "Work is much more fun when done together".  The skills and patience of these girls was admirable, but we were sad to find out that most of them choose weaving instead of further studies in order to support their families...

The alchemy of natural dyeing is a truly fascinating process resulting in beautiful muted silk and cotton threads. The work involved from planting trees, to picking and preparing leaves, seeds and roots to the actual dyeing is a time demanding process based on old recipes. Besides, compared to chemical dyes, natural colouring can never be fully controlled and often results in colour variations - which makes it more challenging. Getting insight into the natural way of dyeing gave us an even greater admiration for the work and effort put into every single textile.

                                               

MIFUKO - Finnish design made in Kenya

Good news! Social entrepreneurship - businesses with a cause - is rising in Finland. According to 'The association of Finnish Work' social business in Finland has grown from about 150 in 2010 to thousands in 2014. One great example of a Finnish social business is MIFUKO - a fair-trade company designing African-inspired eco-friendly objects made by Kenyan artists.

Mifuko was founded in 2009 by designers Minna Impiö and Mari Martikainen, who runs the business from Nairobi and Helsinki. By being situated on place, Mifuko makes sure the artists receive a regular income and good working conditions. As an example their baskets are made by women groups in rural villages and the wages go to food, education and medicine for their families. Mifuko makes bags, baskets, sandals and jewellery etc. What I like about their products is the mix of African ethnicity and Finnish simplicity.They also strive to use recycled and organic materials when ever possible. 

Mifuko has recieved the Finnish Social Enterprise Mark, a symbol of certified social entrepreneurs for their fair-trade work. Read more about their business on MIFUKO.FI and visit their web-shop for a taste of Finnish-African design.  

photos: Mifuko

SISTERS OF SIDEMEN

Last week our journey continued to Sidemen to meet up with a group of weavers. Sidemen is an agricultural village in central Bali surrounded by stunning mountain and rice field views, well known for it's long weaving tradition. The friendly locals, still not used to many tourists, made us feel right at home. The otherwise quiet village, was during our stay in full preparation for a major and rare religious ceremony (hold only once every 40 years) which we were lucky to be part of. The Balinese people's dedication to their religion as well as the detailed decorations and offerings left a deep impression.

 the view from our lovely home stay Giri Carik

on the way to the temple

The meetings with the local weavers gave us a good insight into the Songket and Bebali woven textiles famous for the area. The traditional weaving is done with primitive back strap looms using natural dyed cotton or silk threads. The dyes are mainly made from bark, roots and plants and the complicated motives all have a traditional and symbolic meaning.

The technical skills and patience these women possess are simply admirable. One textile, from dying to weaving, usually takes months to finish, which naturally makes the prices fairly high. To meet the demand for cheaper textiles, chemical dying and "ordinary" weaving are commonly used. However the women in the group all prefer the natural dyed textiles for their authenticity, quality and beautifully muted colors. Increased marketing and awareness of the cultural value of naturally made textiles allows the women to continue their patient work in keeping the traditional weaving skills alive. 

naturally died silk

 traditional spinning rock

bebali - 'sacred textile', only used in religious ceremonies

 back strap loom / songket weaving

 songket - mainly used as sarong and decorative object

the weavers wearing their textiles