PUTRAJAYA: A songket weaving and keringkam embroidery programme was recently established to encourage more people in the community to learn weaving techniques and preserve Sarawak's heritage.
The programme, alongside a community technical outreach programme, was established by the Sarawak government through the Centre for Technology Excellence Sarawak (Centexs), Centexs Commercial and Old Smart Kuching Heritage (OKSHe).
Centexs Commercial Sarawak head of media and public relations Malissa Sahari said aside from encouraging more people to learn songket and keringkam weaving, the programme aimed to identifying talent throughout the state.
"Songket fabric and keringkam, an embroidered shawl used by the royal family previously, is not widely known.
"However, through Centexs, the community is trained to weave songket and keringkam, and in doing so, bring back the awareness of these fabrics in the state.
"The programme reached out to the communities in Kuching, Padawan, Samarahan, Gedong, Rajang, Limbang, and Lawas," she said.
To date, 434 weavers and embroiderers, comprising senior citizens, students and prison inmates are involved in the outreach programme, she added.
The programme includes six months of theory and two months of practical training. It is free for Sarawakians aged between 18 and 60.
Malissa said Sarawak's songket must be kept alive as its weaving technique was different.
"We used the 'tapok' technique which, means hidden in Bahasa Sarawak.
"The technique allows the songket to be weaved in a clean and neat manner, where both sides of the fabric can be used," she said when showcasing the songket at the Centexs booth at the 8th Asean Traditional Textiles Symposium here.
The symposium is organised by Yayasan Tenun Pahang Diraja, and began on Sunday and will end on Friday.
More than 300 people from 13 countries are participating, and 19 working papers are expected to be presented at the symposium.
OKSHe Special Project Officer Khuzaimah Othman said the cultural awareness of Sarawak's songket needs to be delivered through the right platform.
"Not many of us can come up with such designs. The Sarawak weaving techniques are very complex and detailed and may die out if not passed down.
"Hence, this is why we reach out to the community to preserve the beauty, authenticity and techniques of the songket," she said.
Khuzaimah said the songket made under the outreach programme would be marketed in the songket and keringkam gallery in Sarawak, where profits will be returned to the weavers.
"The mission is to also enhance the community's social economy, general employability as well as preserving products and services.
"A comprehensive ecosystem is also provided, where we help them look into how they could penetrate the market.
"The younger ones are given the opportunity to establish their brands and register as entrepreneurs under OKSHe, while competing with other brands in the market," she said when met by reporters at the booth.
She added that 13 songket and keringkam ecosystems were developed to help the community market their products.
Among others, the ecosystem includes business start-ups, standards and regulatory compliance, research, development and innovation, branding excellence, monitoring and quality assurance, and business.