Lombok: Sukarara Weaving Village

8/7/2018

Close up of a woman working using a traditional loom at the Patuh Art Shop.

Sukarara is a traditional weaving village located 22 kilometres southeast from central Mataram on the island of Lombok in Indonesia.

The village is home to the Sasak people and is known for the manufacture of clothing and homewares such as sarongs, shawls, tablecloths etc., produced by weaving thread with traditional looms, creating the brightly patterned songket motif's the village is famous for. Depending on the difficulty of the motif, one sarong can take months to develop.

If you've already been to Lombok chances are you happened across this village and the Patuh Art Shop due to your driver or tour bus taking you on a detour from Mataram. An interesting detour nonetheless.

Upon arrival, you are given a brief tour of the location which includes basic history and some interesting facts about the traditional lifestyle of the Sasak people.

Women cannot marry unless they can weave. In Sasak culture, women bring in the majority of money for the family; therefore, it is essential for women to know how to weave and create clothing.
Marriages are not arranged, however, once falling in love it is custom for the bride to be kidnapped by their male partner prior to the wedding.
Traditionally, once married, only women and children will sleep inside their hut style housing. Men sleep outside under the stars, in a lumbung or on a balcony outside of the house. Boys above the age of 12 must also follow their father's example.

After the brief tour, the staff will dress you in traditional clothing and offer to take photos of you, which I have included below. This is to entice you to buy from the shop, and in my case, it worked.

The quality of the products produced in the village is of a high standard, and I wanted to buy a souvenir. After discovering the sarongs were pricey, starting at Rp 750,000 (AUD $70), I decided to buy the black cropped top I had tried on (same as in pictures) which is traditionally worn by married Sasak women - like I'm getting married any time soon. Simply, it matched what I was wearing, however, set me back Rp 445,000 (AUD $42). In hindsight I should have bought a sarong, the price really isn't that high when you take into account how long they take to create.