Retired teacher finds niche in bead-weaving
KUCHING: With his nimble fingers, he deftly threads the colourful beads. Occasionally, Dickson Noyen turns to his mobile phone screen to take a look at a YouTube demonstration on the making of a beaded necklace.
An hour later, the necklace, bearing a traditional Bidayuh motif, is ready. Dickson holds it up and flashes a smile, satisfied with his handiwork.
The 59-year-old retired teacher is one of few men involved in the beadwork culture Sarawak is well known for.
Dickson is proud he has the skills to produce beautiful beaded accessories which are an identity of the womenfolk in the Bidayuh, Orang Ulu and Iban ethnic groups.
He took up beadwork about five years ago as a hobby. Eventually, it became a source of income for him when he started getting orders from friends and the public.
“In fact, I'm getting quite a good income from it,” he told Bernama yesterday.
Dickson, who is a Bidayuh from Kampung Stenggang in Bau, Sarawak, also has a flair for fashion designing and took up sewing classes a year before he moved to beadwork.
“That was the time when I taught English at a school during the day and learnt to sew at night. Initially, I used to create designs for others to sew but later, I myself started sewing after I became adept at it,” he said.
Dickson became interested in beadwork after he realised that it was difficult for the locals, especially the Bidayuh community, to match their ethnic outfits with the appropriate beaded accessories.
“When I was sewing traditional outfits for Bidayuh men and women, I too found it hard to source accessories for the clothes,” said Dickson, whose nickname is Kodek.
His clothes and beaded accessories are sold under the brand name Kodek’s Collections.
Dickson learnt to make the beaded accessories entirely from books and YouTube videos. He would also buy some accessories, dismantle the beads and then put them together again.
“From there, I learnt how to make different designs for accessories such as necklace, earrings and bracelets,” he said, adding that he preferred to focus on his own designs to create motifs using the four basic colours – red, black, yellow and white.
Dickson, who gets a lot of orders from locals and outsiders for the panggieh or necklace featuring the ethnic Bidayuh motif, uses beads imported from Indonesia and South Korea.
“The beads from these two countries are of high quality and reasonably priced. I usually go to a village called Jombang in Surabaya to buy its unique glass beads,” he said.
His beaded accessories are sold for between RM25 and RM250 a piece, depending on its design, type of bead used and workmanship. — Bernama