Ikat Cloth Blog Posts

At the same time decorated ikat textiles serve as clothing and ornamentations, decorated ikat textiles also serve in the important system of gift exchanges. These exchanges regularise relationships between Sumbanese social groups, and between the...

The sheer multifariousness of figurative and schematic motifs in Sumba is special among the ikat producing areas in East Indonesia. Sumbanese weavers reproduce standing humanlike figures, skull trees (related to head-hunting), golden ornamentation...

The hinggi and lau are the main garments for men and women, and they provide the major field for ornamental work. Cotton wool is the only material used in the cloth, and the basic techniques of ornamentation are dyeing, weaving and sewing on ornam...

Sumba textiles are distinguished by their complexity-combining ikat and supplemental ornamentation like shells and beads-and the wonderful thing about their human, fauna and otherworldly motifs. Sumbanese women are prolific weavers, and produce th...