KUCHING: Main Bazaar, the oldest street here, is the most popular place for locals and travellers to buy various cultural and traditional handicrafts from Borneo.
New Sarawak Tribune today visited some of the souvenir and handicraft shops along the street to get a better understanding of the handicraft industry in the state.
Asyilah Tan, a shop assistant at Johns Gallery Dayak Arts, said among the popular items in the shop were those made of “kayu belian”, “kayu resak”, cotton “Pua Kumbu” and Iban rattan baskets.
“If we look at the design of a “Pua Kumbu”, you can find that each pattern the has its own meaning. Some “Pua Kumbu” tell of how the weavers got their inspirations,” she said.
“As for the sources of handicrafts we sold here, some of them are brought in from various longhouses in Sarawak, and a small amount from our neighbour, Kalimantan Barat,” she pointed out.
“If we look at the Indonesian crafts, we, Sarawakians, do share the same art styles,” she added.
In another shop, an assistant, who wanted to be known only as Kak Ros, said it had various crafts from Borneo.
“The “Pua Kumbu” comes from Sarawak and Kalimantan Barat. The new ones come from our neighbour while the old ones originate from Sarawak so there are differences in the pricing,” she explained.
Kak Ros added that handicrafts bought in Indonesia could be sold at low prices and therefore were more affordable to the public while those bought in various parts of Sarawak fetched higher prices because of authenticity.
New Sarawak Tribune also interviewed a few people for this article.
Nur Sajadiah, a freelancer, said handicrafts from our neighbouring country were sold at much cheaper prices compared to the local products.
“But there is not much difference between the local and foreign products.
“In my opinion, the cultural designs from Indonesia are more profound and interesting,” she added.
Meanwhile, Reena Lee, a part time model, was of the opinion that the “Pua Kumbu” from different parts of Borneo had different designs which were influenced by the experiences of the weavers.
