Songket for the masses

Keeping an ancient craft alive and relevant sometimes requires a little help from technology, writes

DELICATE piece of heritage fabric like the songket is the result of many months of skilled handloom weaving by expert craftsmen who learnt the art from their ancestors.

While heritage fashion enthusiasts will not mind the wait to get the best piece of songket, a technology boost is definitely needed when it comes to production on a big scale.

At Ara Borgstena, making songket via mass production is its forte.

Combining modern techniques of loom and software, the company an commercially produce 3,000 metres of songket fabric in two weeks with unique traditional Malay motifs such as bunga melur and bunga pecah lapan — which still makes the songket authentic but reinterpretated with a contemporary touch.

DOUBLE-SIDED SONGKET

Located in Jenjarom, Kuala Langat, Selangor, Ara Borgstena was founded

n 1992 as a joint venture between Ara Heights Malaysia and AB Borgstena Textile of Sweden, a pioneer in circular knitting technology and one of Europe’s leading automotive fabric designer and manufacturer.

The songket innovation has been a collaborative effort between Ara Borgstena and the Faculty of Applied Science, Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), Shah Alam since 2005.

“The idea of making songket with a variety of designs using modern techniques of loom and software came from Professor Dr Jamil Salleh of the Applied Science Faculty, UiTM. He is behind the development of the double-sided songket.

“Ara Borgstena is responsible for its commercialising phase,” says Ara Borgstena general manager Mohamad Pauzi Zahudin.