THE GUIDE / EXPLORE AT YOUR OWN PACE
Explore batik, ikat, songket, ulos, and other crafts through their makers, materials, provenance, and community context.
Ulos is a handwoven textile of the Batak peoples of North Sumatra, traditionally made from cotton on a backstrap loom and closely tied to adat, or customary law. It is more than cloth: it can serve as…
When buying Indonesian crafts, ask three questions before you fall for the object: who made it, what it is made from, and how…
The safest way to tell batik, ikat and songket apart is to ask when the pattern is made. Batik adds pattern to finished…
Indonesian textiles are not one craft but a family of techniques and regional traditions. Start by separating technique from place: batik from Java,…
