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Lindaa
20-11-2014, 16:16
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Pandai Sikek is a village in Tanah Datar regency at the foot of Mt. Singgalang, to the left of a 10-kilometer highway in the direction of Bukittinggi from Padang, West Sumatra.

Pandai Sikek is one of the best places to obtain the region’s famous hand-woven cloth called “songket”. There is a street in Pandai Sikek dedicated to stores that sell “songket” fabrics.

One of the distinct features of “songket” is the use of glossy threads, giving an elegant shimmer to the fabric. That, and the fact that a “songket” can take at least four months to finish, is why the fabric can cost millions of rupiah.

With its cool air, Pandai Sikek has 27 entrepreneurs engaged in the production of songket (woven fabrics) with gold and silver thread embroidery. They employ 857 weavers, mostly young women. On average, each turns out a sarong or scarf with simple motifs.

Pandai Sikek is one of seven villages in Minangkabau (the region in West Sumatra with distinctive ethnic characteristics) where weaving skills have been handed down for generations.

The others are Pitalah and Sungayang (Tanah Datar), Silungkang (Sawahlunto), Kotagadang (Agam), Koto Nan Ampek and Kubang (Limapuluh Kota).

The activity has to do with the supply of clothing for official inaugurations, wedding parties and other ceremonies, required by local custom. But today only Silungkang, Kubang and Pandai Sikek still retain this craft.

Of the three, Pandai Sikek is well ahead in carrying on the tradition by spreading the skill to a large number of villagers.
Besides, Pandai Sikek's embroidered cloths are finer and more diversified, closer to the forms in which they were created centuries ago. There are now over 200 songket motifs from this village, representing the philosophical values of Minangkabau people such as the fringe motif, itiak pulang patang (ducks flocking to their coop, meaning unity).

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