KUALA LUMPUR: The Raja Permaisuri Agong Tunku Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah will once again return to the London Craft Week (LCW) in London, this time to showcase the nation's heritage craft in an exhibition themed "Abstract Nature" from May 6 to 14 this year.
Tunku Azizah said she wants to "tell the stories of the Malaysian people through the language of craft."
Last year, she took the Tenun Pahang Diraja to the week-long exhibition, which gathered some 250 established and emerging makers, designers, brands and galleries from around the world to showcase their products.
This year's exhibition, which will take place at the Malaysian High Commission at Belgrave Square, will include live demonstrations and workshops on, among others, wood carving, telepuk (textile gilding), basketry, mat-weaving, songket (brocade) and tribal beading.
"Our aim is to show the beautiful heritage arts and craft works of the Orang Asli from Peninsular Malaysia and the Orang Asal from Sabah and Sarawak. They produce the finest pieces, which can be marketed globally," Tunku Azizah said at a press conference on Malaysia's participation at this year's LCW.
Tunku Azizah, who is the World Crafts Council's 2019 Craft Icon of the Year, is passionate about promoting the heritage arts and craft, which if not preserved, will not be able to be enjoyed by the future generation.
She has been actively promoting traditional crafts from 2006, starting with the Tenun Pahang Diraja, which she picked as her attire for the Installation Ceremony of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong at Istana Negara on July 30, 2019.
A total of seven master craftsmen will demonstrate their craft at the exhibition.
They are Norhaiza Noordin (Telepuk Terengganu), Maznah Unyan (Pandan weaving), Ros Salleh (Keringkam Sarawak), Shirley Vilin (Ikat Iban), Samri Abdul Rahman (Samri Abdul Rahman), Helena David (Bidayuh and Orang Ulu Sarawak tribal beading) and Senia Jugi (Bemban weaving). Workshops would also be held on Ikat Iban (Pua Kumbu from Sarawak), Bunga Moyang (leaf plaiting by the Mah Meri Tribe), basketry (Sarawak), Keringkam (Malay/Melanau) and beading (Orang Ulu, Sarawak).
Tunku Azizah also showed some of the woven mats that she would be taking to the LCW, including the Bergerang mat from Sarawak. The mat's woven pattern is akin to the Hardanger embroidery, which is said to have its beginnings in ancient Persia and Asia.
Tunku Azizah said the Terengganu Songket will also be featured at this year's LCW.
Malaysia's participation in the LCW will be led by the Royal Pahang Weave Foundation and supported by the federal government, the Pahang and Sarawak state governments, Yayasan AlBukhary Foundation, Kraftangan Malaysia and Royal Terengganu Songket.
The exhibition will be curated by Judith Clark, a professor of Fashion and Museology at London College of Fashion, University of Arts London. She is currently visiting professor in the Dipartimento di Culture del Progetto, IUAV, Venice; and Associate Fellow in the Historic Carving Department at City and Guilds of London Art School.
Last year, the inaugural exhibition themed "Weaving Hope" highlighted the prison weaving programme, a display of a traditional floor-loom with a weaver at task, archival fabrics from the Pahang Museum and a selection of Tunku Azizah's own garments and private tenun collection.
Visitors include The Princess Royal Princess Anne and Birgitte, the Duchess of Gloucester.
Tunku Azizah shared that Malaysia's participation to the LCW is a three-year plan, starting with the Tenun Pahang Diraja (2022), heritage arts and craft (2023) and possibly Batik (2024).