Colorful Woven Fabrics From Karang Village, Nusa Penida
nderful tourism is not the only thing that you can enjoy in Nusa Penida. The beauty also lies in the local products as cultural identity. One of the famous local products from Nusa Penida is the traditional handwoven fabric. In Nusa Penida, Klungkung Regency, there is Karang Village which is well-known as “Village of Weavers” due to its big number of villagers who work as fabric weaver. The local product of this village called “Rangrang Woven Fabric”. For your info, Karang Village has become the one of the biggest woven fabric sources in Bali.
Rangrang woven fabric is currently developing and attracts many national even fabric lovers due to its uniqueness and natural colors. In the past, Rangrang woven fabric was only used as a religious ceremony cloth, but today, it is spread all over Indonesia to be sold as clothing motif. An interesting fact from Rangrang woven fabrics making is that the weaving is not only carried out by adults and women, but children and men are also good at weaving. Cool ! Isn’t it?
They usually weave after conducting routine activities. And the weaving process uses manual looms. Rangrang itself is derived from Indonesian word “Jarang – jarang” which means hollow or it has empty spaces between the meeting of every motif points. The fabric symbolizes the transparency and honesty of Bali people. Rangrang fabrics display a variety of flora and fauna, expressed flatly by many curves and tapered lines and brightly colored box shapes.
Its motif is divided into two, “edges motif” and “main motif”. To distinguish the motives, you should pay attention to the illustrations formed by the motifs. Edges motif appears in the in the form of triangular shape and often called as mountain motif. While, main motif is located in the middle which covers “diamond motif” (rhombus), “iled motif” (zigzag), “bianglala motif” (rainbow), “lines motif”, “porosan motif”, “gablag motif” (diamond motif with large size), “sirang motif”, “spurs motif” and “cross motif” (letter x).
If you are interested to see the weaving process directly, you can visit Karang Village. It is quite easy to reach to Karang Village. If you depart from Bali, you can take sea transportation or speedboat from Sanur Beach pier, Kusamba, or Padang Bai to Nusa Penida. And after arriving at Nusa Penida pier, you can continue your travel to Banjar Karang.
The existence of Rangrang fabrics which are currently quite developed has helped in increasing the income of a number of weavers in Nusa Penida. This unique and colorful Rangrang woven fabric should be preserved and developed as one of Nusa Penida superior products and to promote indigenous Indonesian culture. We do hope that in the future, there will be more international tourists who are interested to know about Rangrang woven fabric.
By : Indra Pujianto