Sarung Selaru Ramanunu from Tanimbar using Tencel fibre and natural dye (Image source: Lamerenan IG)

Hiyashinta Klise, is the founder of Lamerenan entities. In 2015, together with her cousin, the only weaver in the family, Shinta started Lamerenan as organisations to empower Tanimbar women, revitalise weaving culture among the youths and to preserve Tanimbar’s natural beauty.

In this episode of aNERDspective (our NERD talk show where we converse with amazing friends about their textile adventure and perspectives), we talked to Shinta, about the journey in preserving Lamerenan’s and Tanimbar weave cloth legacy. Yes, will talk more about the name Lamerenan, which we feel is an interesting tradition.

Note: Full video in Bahasa Indonesia is available on IG TV and this translation of the transcript has been edited for reading format.

Tony Sugiarta (TS): Welcome Shinta to today’s aNERDspective. Thank you for sparing some time to talk with us. Maybe we can start with an introduction, who is Shinta and your journey in founding Lamerenan.

Hiyashinta Klise (HK): I am the daughter of Tanimbar, my father is from Tanimbar and my mother is a Javanese. My father have moved to Jakarta since 30 years ago and met with my mum. I was born here in Java and grew up in Bekasi. Since young, I have actually been exposed to Tanimbar culture despite of the small Tanimbarese community. My grandmother had stayed with us (until she is sick and requested to go home to spend the rest of her days in Tanimbar), the food, the family visits, Tanimbar is not totally distant. We are very close. We even call the brothers of our father as ‘Bapak’ and the sisters of our mother as ‘Mama’. (It is ‘om’ and ‘tante’ if the opposite gender.)

When my grandmother stayed with me, when I was in elementary to junior high school, she weaved. She brought her looms and that was when I first encountered tenun, when I was nine or ten years old. For the cloth, every time someone passed away, these woven cloths are already in the cupboard but I was too young to understand. I was exposed to the (weaving) process from beginning to end but I was not interested. I reckoned, it was a job for older ladies and it was so complicated. I like to wait on my grandmother until she got a stroke and my father reprimanded her to stop weaving due to her health. The loom was part of her life, like we bring our handphones everywhere. The loom is now gone since my grandmother passed away.

I have always like history and culture. I wanted to enrol in a cultural house but there was no access or information on the enrolment and the money too. I have no idea that there is an anthropology which would suit my interest. However, in the past, the focus of college is to graduate, to work and to earn money. Hence, I took Taxonomy studies in National University of Indonesia (Universitas Indonesia). During break time, I often visit the Arts and Culture Faculty (ed.: located at different building) to see what activities do they have.

After I work, I was determined to go to Kota Tua (old town in Central Jakarta) despite not knowing where they are. I joined ‘Friends of Museum’ community and got exposed to other communities, including ‘Love Our Heritage’, not jus to learn about history, but also culture. As a committee member, I attended a seminar by Dinny Jusuf, the founder of Torajamelo. I saw that they created something out of woven cloths to be introduced. It dawned on me that I have tenun too! I happen to visit Tanimbar, in 2011, for the first time. And the first time for my father after 30 years. Not often because it is very expensive…

Is there a direct flight to Tanimbar?

You need to transit to a small plane in Ambon and that is very expensive, about 5 million rupiah (~355 USD, 477SGD) for two-way.

I saw my cousin who picks up weaving. Her name is Hiyashinta Klise too. She is the only one in the family who picks up weaving. She quit at one point. Because the local Tanimbar people only wear the cloths that are in the wardrobe for rituals. They do not really buy new cloths. Then, there was a decree for students to wear woven cloths to school. The demand picked up but went down again.

When I was there, I fell in love instantly. To see the beach, the mysticism. I went into a forest and I want to know more about the history, the land and the clothes. It is my heritage and as a woman, that is my birthright to inherit. I have not heard it from my family but I ever read that there is a division of labour that a man hunts and a woman weaves. If we ever get caught bringing a hunting gear, we have to explain that we are just holding it custody for our husbands. So I was thinking, how to preserve, promote, introduce Tanimbar and document the cloth through woven cloths.

I was inspired by Torajamelo, let’s promote through products. I called my cousin to start weaving again, with my savings from my main job as a tax consultant as a starting fund to buy materials. That was back in 2014. I started with the brand Lamerenan, which from business point of view is difficult to remember and many commented that I should find something that is easy to remember. Well, I just follow on.

So, what is the meaning of the name Lamerenan?

Lamerenan is actually my grandmother’s name and my Tanimbar name. We have a tradition that the first daughter in the family must be named with her paternal grandmother’s name. Similarly, the first son will take on his paternal grandfather’s name. Subsequent children does not need to follow this naming tradition, they could be named with her grandmother’s sister.

Is it for the first child (regardless of gender) or first son and first daughter?

Yes, first daughter and first son. I am second child but first daughter, so the rule applies. My grandmother’s full name is Mparyat Lamerenan. It is not a family name, that is the local Tanimbarese name. We called it Hindu name. It is not registered in any official certificates. Well, some do, but I don’t because it is very long. Klise is my family name and Lamerenan is my local Tanimbarese first name.

We have local names before the arrival of Catholicism. Catholics came into Tanimbar about 100 year ago and that’s where baptism name becomes more common. So my grandmother’s baptism name is Hiyashinta, which is the name of my great-great grandmother. This tradition has been passed down for many generations but now we add small names too, such as Hiyashinta Agnes Klise. I do not want this tradition to go extinct and undocumented. So I registered this as my company, my brand, at least it is officiated and documented. From then, I created products using my grandfather’s name which adds to the storytelling. In the end, I resigned and decided to go freelance as a consultant. After marriage, I focused even more on Lamerenan.

Since when was it?

It was registered in 2017 but I have started with storytelling since 2015. So my cousin weaves and I sell them. I have not worked with other weavers, so we start (small) with the family.

To go back a little bit before going to the products, you mentioned about Catholicism entered about 100 years ago. What was the religion/belief before that?

Animism, they call it Hinduism but it is ‘Earth Hinduism”. Similar to kejawen (an old Javanese belief), so we pray to the ancestors, the trees, crocodile, whales, etc. Religion entered because the approach does not remove culture and tradition. It was said that ancestors are something that is outside of the Universe whose power that is beyond us and hence, it was introduced the concept of “God”. Catholicism was accepted and rituals are still allowed, despite of praying to God.

When I was there in 2011, I was also told that the early missionaries were scared too, so they pray before they came. Locals are prepared with arrows and sopi (a local distilled fermented drink from Arenga Pinatta). If they can drink it, means that they are friend and they started talking.

If there is no ritual before weaving, we can say that weaving culture is dead.

What are products sold in Lamerenan?

At the beginning, I started with bowties, dress, t-shirts, a mix and match application. I joined communities to learn and starting to expand the resources. I sell dresses, not many, and I sell cloths, while working on natural dyes. Finally, I can work with weavers who want to work with natural dyes, although not fully. For example, they dye yarns for the motif and I get yarns from here, from the Warlami (Warna Alam Indonesia, Indonesia Natural Dyes Association) community for the rest. 

I am saving up for a natural dye training and development. I figure to motivate weavers to use natural dyes after training is difficult without proper guidance and mentorship. They prefer to use synthetic dyes because they are fast. I started selling them as sarong and shawl as it is a pity to cut a natural dye piece. It has been difficult (for adoption of natural dyes) since my grandmother’s time and that concerns me.

Through interaction with other communities, I realised that Tanimbar weave does not use natural dyes and they use synthetic yarns such as polyester. My grandmother used to tell me that they have a cotton farm, which is not around anymore. In 2016, I went back again and discover that they (natural cottons) are actually still there in a very remote parts. I crossed the sea to another island and found an old lady spinning cotton yarns. I bought some, together with indigo dyes.

At the moment the natural dye supply is still limited. If other weavers uses synthetic dyes, it is fine too. Not those woven for rituals, but “contemporary” clothes that are woven to make suits and skirts. In the future, I would like to make more home decor such as cushion covers. I do have bags and small shawls from natural dyes but, again, in limited quantities.

How many weavers are there in Tanimbar?

I do not know the exact numbers. I only know that in my village, there are not many. On average, there is only 1 in each family who can weave. I want to start learning as I have a loom in Jakarta.

Your grandmother’s loom?

No. My grandmother’s gone. During the World Ikat Symposium, I worked with a weaver (a distant relative) from Selaru island and she brought me a loom and I learnt from here. I have not really learnt from my cousin as I was too busy on the business/administrative side of Lamerenan.

During this pandemic, I worked with a weaver in Bekasi (ed. where Hiyashinta is based), who is also from Tanimbar. I saw on Facebook and she has been here for 12 years already. So I contacted her and started working with her.

How about your cousin? Where did she learn it from?

From my grandmother. She grew up in Tanimbar and there are some family members who know how to weave. I would say that there are many weavers but there are not many who can tie the motifs. It is a tedious job and many youngsters do not want to do it. Hence, only the older artisans will do it. I was told by an anthropologist that if there is no ritual before weaving, we can say that weaving culture is dead. The motifs and meanings no longer meaningful for the youths. They weave only for economic reason. I want to revive these culture, so that they know the meaning and they can be proud of it.

Talking about motif, you mentioned about “contemporary motif”, maybe you can share and explain a little bit what are the difference?

Yes, for contemporary motif, they are actually the same, on a straight cloth. However, they are woven with a specific purpose. For example, for a suit, the patterns are woven so that they do not butcher the motif. If we tell the weaver, you want cloths for a suit, they will weave three cloths, 2 for the arms and 1 for the torso. For rituals, they will make a sarung. Not the pattern but the cloth itself that has some restriction on how you wear them, be it for death or wedding ritual.

For a traditional cloth, we have a motif, that is so iconic of Tanimbar weave is this called Tais Marin, characterised by the black-white stripes in the middle of the cloth. This the grandest cloth with a lot of motifs. Not many will do this and they often refuse as the motif is complicated and making it is tiresome.

They are ikat technique right?

Yes, it is. The yarns are covered with rafia strings to prevent dyes from seeping in and it forms a motif when opened.

Yes, that’s the difference between traditional and contemporary Tanimbar weaves, depending on the application, as a clothes or home decor. However, due to the high demand and it is easy to make, they tend to do the contemporary style to get money quick. Perhaps, that is a reason why traditional cloths are forgotten and not many people made them.

Are the traditional cloths still used?

Not for daily wear. Traditional cloths are only used for specific events, such as dance, rituals or ceremonies. The dying tradition that we are referring to are the rituals that they have prior to weaving, such as saying a prayer. One that I found out when doing my research is that the village should not weave when there is a death in the village. This is to respect the deceased and the sound of the loom might call the soul to turn back.

Some believed this, including my cousin and the weaver whom I am working with, Kakak Lanthy. There was once that a portion of the cloth was bitten by a mouse and she threw them away believing that is a bad omen. Knowing that it is a laborious process, I tried to salvage them to be made into an accessories. However, many weavers belief that it is not a good sign and will throw them away. This does not make economical sense, of course, but this is an indication that there is more to just the action of weaving.

Interesting to know these habits around weavers in Tanimbar

Yes, these are the habits that I told on Facebook and the web.

Do you manage the web on your own?

Yes. My husband helped with the design, product photos. They purely weave in Tanimbar.

I can say that it is a one-woman show?

I have a cousin here who just graduated. However, it is difficult to get help from the family as they view weaving not as a (viable) profession. She has to work. My vision is actually to introduce the culture to the grassroots as my younger cousins view weaving as an old lady’s job, like I used to think. They are proud wearing tenun but they do not know much about it. I want my family to help.

I brought Kak Lanthy to World Ikat Symposium. I wanted to bring her daughter too but was discouraged, not to disturb her studies. My intention was to bring her onboard during the holiday, not just financially earning pocket money, but also to deepen the weaving knowledge. Until her mother received appreciation during the symposium, she eased up and ask me to involve her daughter. So now, I asked her to be my model and help out.

This is the challenge, not only for my relatives but I experienced it first hand. I graduated as a Taxonomy major and now I am selling tenun. To them, this is not a real job. They ask me to enrol in government offices. My dad used to share the same sentiment but growing proud of it. Slowly, I get them to hear praises from outsiders to make them proud.

To them, weaving is not a real job. They ask me to enrol in government offices.

What are the challenges for Lamerenan?

Perhaps is the fact that I have not a business partner that is of a good match. If you see other brands, there are co-founders, but I have not found one who really understand Tanimbar.

The distance too. There is no good signals in Tanimbar to directly promote or transportation access. I have Kak Lanthy to help coordinate the weavers and I paid weaving fee to her. From the weaving fee, she reinvested it to buy yarns to make her own cloth that she consigns with me. I would like to expand this model with other weavers but I have to be very careful with managing my limited resources (ed.: the raw materials). I have not worked with a weavers’ collective as they might not be cohesive too.

I like working with Kak Lanthy as she is honest, good ethos and good with deadline. We are aligned and we started with the current model where I supply the yarns and I paid weaving fee. She uses that money to pay for her own yarns, so she has income from the weaving fee and selling her own cloth. Of course there is a consignment fee of about 10-15%, it is still valued higher her. I am still evaluating the sustainability of this system. Perhaps, that what makes us grow slowly as I cannot afford not to be careful.

Perhaps, that depends on the character or the brain behind the business. There is no right or wrong, fast or slow. It is not a big issue. I believe with the good response, there are a lot of potential to be further developed.

I ever tried finding out more about the weavers’ group. I studied a few cases which are good case studies which apply this model of reinvesting their money to buy yarns. When I was in Tanimbar, I asked a few NGOs and they said that it might not work in Tanimbar as the culture is very different. They attempted to make a cooperatives but most failed. This is caused by the lack of trust among clans and each other, so any plans could fail before anything started.

I tried to evaluate with Kak Lanthy to recruit more weavers. She entrusted me with that decision but also warns me of this discord. I am grateful for Kak Lanthy. She stayed in a village that is away from the main regency and has a good thinking. She started talking and instilling this ideas of reinvesting to other weavers. I think this is a good first step.

I learnt a lot from Torajamelo, I registered a Partnership, not a Private Limited yet, because of the capital required. The partnership is for the commerce portion and a foundation for development and training. They have the same objective to develop the artisans but with different methodologies. The weavers can have more independence in reinvesting their money to sell their cloths (and potentially a competitor) but also to safeguard my business. Hence, the two entities. As an example, during the pandemic, there is a donation and it is an income. I directed it to the foundation for development programs and as a pandemic aid for the weavers. The money from the cloth sales goes to manage the company while any money for the foundation will be directed towards development and training programs, including bringing a weaver to the World Ikat Symposium as a development need.

So there are weavers other than Kak Lanthy?

Yes, they are managed by Kak Lanthy. They were selected by Kak Lanthy and they work together with her. There are about 10 weavers but few who ties patterns. So Kak Lanthy ties the patterns and passes them along to the weavers. She also just starting with natural dyes. She attended workshops during World Ikat Symposium and saw natural dyes from other weavers. She is now planting indigo and is trying to plant cotton but this still has a long way to go. Currently, the yarns are dipped in Yogya and sent to Tanimbar.

So you can imagine the paths – I buy yarns here, dyed here, I sent to Tanimbar, crossed the sea to another island and repeat when flying the cloth back to Jakarta.

During the pandemic, from the marketing perspective, what are the responses and what activities are you doing?

During the pandemic, I tell stories with the cloth that I have. I have friends in the community who helped to spread the word, such as this interview, through Instagram Live or (writing) some features on Lamerenan. Many people watched because they are staying at home but not many who are actually spare some money to buy.

There have always been a lot of challenges and I always include some costs into the pricing for unexpected delays and expenses such as delay in shipment (it could be months) due to a disaster or strong wind, cultural ceremonies. I am prepared mentally and financially (for this pandemic). It has always been like a training for this moment. That is a risk mitigation to allow me to breathe and continue production. Sales have dropped here due to cancellations of events but production goes on.

Yes, it is important for production to continue.

Yes, the production continues. At the beginning of pandemic, Kak Lanthy reported that there are no shops open. However, there are no cases and they can still eat in the village. They farm and fish as usual. Rice are in abundance. The problem is that their children are in Java – school fees, rent and living expenses still need to be paid. They considered asking them back due to flight closure but they decided for them to stay put and they need money to cover that costs.

What is the future for Lamerenan?

For myself, I want to learn to weave. If there’s no one else, I want to inherit them. I also want to publish a book from my notes. My friends supported me but the journey is still long.

For natural dyes, I want to develop a natural dye training and development centre that guides the weavers along the way, not just to give training and leave. I want our cotton farms and natural dye plants farms. I want to be like Threads of Life in Bali. We will have cotton farms and plant dyes research facility in Tanimbar. That is the biggest dream.

The major arc of the vision is to revive Tanimbar weaving culture to its glory days, in terms of cultural heritage and quality materials. I want it to be sustainable, both in the raw materials and economically.

Thank you Shinta for spending some time today.

Thank you for the invitation. May this pandemic be over soon and there are not barriers that prevent us from appreciating textiles, regardless their origins.

We hope you enjoyed this episode of aNERDspective. Check out the previous episode on IGTV and our gallery and store if you would like a piece of Indonesia for your home or wardrobe. You may also check out  Lamerenan Instagram for the latest Lamerenan collection.

Photo credit: Lamerenan, unless stated otherwise.