Sarawak Craft Council
February 25, 2006 by jernehhong
The Round Tower
Sarawak Craft Council
As a Kuchingite, how often have you passing by Jalan Tun Abang Hj. Openg and not noticing the existence of this 120-year-old Colonial architecture — The Round Tower?
Let’s put it this way: it’s impossible not to glance its way when one goes by Jalan Tun Abang Hj. Openg, but it’s possible that somehow it never pique your curiosity to find out what’s inside the building until one day your foreign friends challenged you with local arts and crafts knowledge. Well, at least, that’s what happened to me…
Upon entering the main door of Sarawak Craft Council, I was immediately greeted by air conditioning generated cool breeze and delightful traditional native music playing softly in the background. I must admit that I was surprised to see its modern interior design blended well with its surrounding traditional arts and crafts decor — it’s totally different from my anticipation!
Sarawak traditional handcrafts such as hand woven mats, keringkam(handmade "tudong" worn by the Malay and Melanau women of Sarawak), bead works, wood carving, rattans and bamboo products — call it all you want and they have it all here!
Besides, there was live demonstrations of Pua Kumbu(traditional Iban textile) and Sungkit(Iban textile) weaving! After talking to some of the craft women I found out that they were invited by the craft council all the way from rural areas in Sarawak to perform live demos of Pua Kumbu weaving in the city. It’s a pity though some of them would only stay in the city for a month and then return to their kampong(village). "So don’t be surprise to see new faces when you come here next time," said a craft woman.
Though I’m not a 100% devoted patriotic but I think I’ll come here to get some gifts for my foreign friends — to thank them for piquing my interest to learn something about my hometown. More important, to update/change my mind set of the design and usage of traditional Sarawak arts and crafts — they have put on a new 21 Century modern look too!!!
Venue: Jalan Tun Abang Hj. Openg (Next to Sarawak Tourism Complex), Kuching, Sarawak.
Opening Hour: Mon-Fri (8am-5pm); Sat & Sun (8am-12:30pm).
No admission fee.
