For 2 hours on September 21, we were transported to the land of tenun ikat, batik and silky songket, Indonesia. The Indonesian Embassy, through the efforts of the Indonesia Women’s Organization and supported by the Ambassador’s wife, Madame Nila opened its doors to invited guests to showcase Indonesian textile.
The hosts showed us info-videos on Indonesian textile and the areas where they come from. Indonesia is an archipelago and the different islands have their distinctive textile colors and patterns. Interesting, eh? Philippines and Indonesia are Southeast Asian neighbors and we share a lot of familiar words and we have our own “batik” and “songket”. Our brothers and sisters from Mindanao have these rich cultural heritage as well. So when the hosts asked for volunteers so they can show how to use batik in several ways, I volunteered myself:-).
The batiks we wore were all beautifully hand painted:
It was an interesting display of Indonesian textile. My friends and I from the Philippine Women’s Club are more inspired by these amiable ladies whose efforts are geared towards sharing and appreciation of their rich Indonesian culture.
P.S. Trivia:
Indonesia and the Philippines are Southeast Asian countries. Both belong to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and both are archipelagos. Indonesia is the world’s largest archipelago and has an overwhelming 13,466 islands while the Philippines has 7,641 islands.
Like the Indonesia Women’s Organization, the Philippine Women’s Club aims to promote and share our culture to our fellow Filipinos and other expat communities here in South Korea. To know more about us, you may visit our official Facebook page and Like our page to be updated with our activities: Philippine Women’s Club Facebook page.
=====================================================
I love the Batik design. I remember wearing that during our Buwan ng Wika. I wore it as a dress partnered with black leggings and longsleeves. Great collab with IWO and PWC! 🙂
Those patterns are very pretty. The folks at project runway would love to get their hands on that fabric. That’s as far as my knowledge goes in this area, lol. I’m glad you had such a great time. The smiles all around make it apparent this even was knocked out of the park.
I always enjoy seeing the different fashions and textiles when I’m traveling. I love the golden thread used in the Indonesian styles of air stewardesses and their wedding style attire. It must feel like an honor to be able to learn and try on these beautiful pieces of art. I wish we could easily wear them in some modern-type scarves or jackets.
I’ve always been fascinated by world textiles and so I am definitely appreciating this post and what it entails on a visual, and also, international relationship level. I have a friend who speaks Bahasa Indonesian and I was stunned to hear so many similar words. Bahasa is very close to my mother tongue of Ilocano, I think much closer than Tagalog is to it at least!
Gotta love it…seeing designs and fabrics from around the world is so amazing. Awesome piece—short and easy to digest