Revitalising the craft of Songket Weaving through Innovation in Malaysia

The art of songket weaving is believed to have come to the Malay Peninsula through trade, migration and political marriages since the fifteenth century. Songket is a piece of breathtaking traditional Malay fabric which belongs to the brocade group of textiles. It is woven in silk or cotton threads a...

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Main Author: Kheng, J.N.S
Format: Proceeding
Language:English
Published: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, (UNIMAS) 2011
Subjects:
Online Access:http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/2558/
http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/2558/1/Revitalising%20the%20craft%20of%20Songket%20Weaving%20through%20Innovation%20in%20Malaysia.pdf
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author Kheng, J.N.S
author_facet Kheng, J.N.S
author_sort Kheng, J.N.S
building UNIMAS Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description The art of songket weaving is believed to have come to the Malay Peninsula through trade, migration and political marriages since the fifteenth century. Songket is a piece of breathtaking traditional Malay fabric which belongs to the brocade group of textiles. It is woven in silk or cotton threads and the songket patterns are formed by gold or coloured metallic threads using the supplementary weft technique. This paper focuses on the history of songket in the Malay Peninsula as well as the processes and problems faced by songket weaving cottage industry in Malaysia. Even though the craft of songket weaving has a very long history in the Malay Archipelago, the number of songket weavers has dwindled recently. This could be due to the rather limited usage of songket and reluctance of the younger generation women to participate in the industry as songket weaving is perceived to be time-consuming and boring. Consequently, the craft of songket weaving may one day diminish if our younger generation is no longer interested in the songket weaving profession. Thus in 2008, a special songket project was initiated by the Yayasan Tuanku Nur Zahirah's (YTNZ), a Foundation established by the Her Majesty Tuanku Nur Zahirah. YTNZ aims to revive the craft of songket weaving by teaching young women the necessary weaving skills to produce contemporary and high quality songket as well as broadening the usage of songket. Examples of the songket activities and projects carried by YTNZ in producing contemporary songket and application are also highlighted in this paper.
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spelling unimas-25582015-03-17T00:30:57Z http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/2558/ Revitalising the craft of Songket Weaving through Innovation in Malaysia Kheng, J.N.S NC Drawing Design Illustration The art of songket weaving is believed to have come to the Malay Peninsula through trade, migration and political marriages since the fifteenth century. Songket is a piece of breathtaking traditional Malay fabric which belongs to the brocade group of textiles. It is woven in silk or cotton threads and the songket patterns are formed by gold or coloured metallic threads using the supplementary weft technique. This paper focuses on the history of songket in the Malay Peninsula as well as the processes and problems faced by songket weaving cottage industry in Malaysia. Even though the craft of songket weaving has a very long history in the Malay Archipelago, the number of songket weavers has dwindled recently. This could be due to the rather limited usage of songket and reluctance of the younger generation women to participate in the industry as songket weaving is perceived to be time-consuming and boring. Consequently, the craft of songket weaving may one day diminish if our younger generation is no longer interested in the songket weaving profession. Thus in 2008, a special songket project was initiated by the Yayasan Tuanku Nur Zahirah's (YTNZ), a Foundation established by the Her Majesty Tuanku Nur Zahirah. YTNZ aims to revive the craft of songket weaving by teaching young women the necessary weaving skills to produce contemporary and high quality songket as well as broadening the usage of songket. Examples of the songket activities and projects carried by YTNZ in producing contemporary songket and application are also highlighted in this paper. Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, (UNIMAS) 2011 Proceeding NonPeerReviewed text en http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/2558/1/Revitalising%20the%20craft%20of%20Songket%20Weaving%20through%20Innovation%20in%20Malaysia.pdf Kheng, J.N.S (2011) Revitalising the craft of Songket Weaving through Innovation in Malaysia. In: Seminar a Celebration of South East Asia Textiles, In conjunction with the celebration of Textile Carnival and Exhibition at Deaprtment of Museums Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur 2011, 2011.
spellingShingle NC Drawing Design Illustration
Kheng, J.N.S
Revitalising the craft of Songket Weaving through Innovation in Malaysia
title Revitalising the craft of Songket Weaving through Innovation in Malaysia
title_full Revitalising the craft of Songket Weaving through Innovation in Malaysia
title_fullStr Revitalising the craft of Songket Weaving through Innovation in Malaysia
title_full_unstemmed Revitalising the craft of Songket Weaving through Innovation in Malaysia
title_short Revitalising the craft of Songket Weaving through Innovation in Malaysia
title_sort revitalising the craft of songket weaving through innovation in malaysia
topic NC Drawing Design Illustration
url http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/2558/
http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/2558/1/Revitalising%20the%20craft%20of%20Songket%20Weaving%20through%20Innovation%20in%20Malaysia.pdf