Craft Village Of Lombok

OVERVIEW

Shop for handmade arts and crafts in two village markets renowned for their highly skilled traditional artisans. Wooden products are the specialty of the craftspeople at the Sesela Art Market, and you may see them hand-carving intricate friezes, lacquering boxes and inlaying wooden furniture with decorative shells. The process is slow and that meticulousness shows in the merchandise. Colorful textiles, beaded jewelry and woven rattan goods are also plentiful at the art market. Songket weaving is the signature technique practiced at the Sukarara Craft Village. To create songket fabric, the artisans hand-weave metallic threads together with silk or cotton yarn. As you will discover, the technique is so exacting that it can take a month to make one item. Songket fabrics usually feature traditional motifs and are brightly colored with natural dyes that resist fading. Weaving is so important to the village that nearly every house has its own loom.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Shop for handmade goods ranging from jewelry to wooden crafts at the Sesela Art Market.
• Browse the Sukarara Craft Village for fine apparel made with songket fabric.
• Watch the artisans in Sukarara painstakingly weave the songket fabric on hand looms.

HELPFUL HINTS

• Dress in weather-appropriate clothing.
• Wear flat comfortable walking shoes.