 |
| Toraja Melo has established a variety of programs to work with women who participate. (Photo courtesy of Toraja Melo) |
Jakarta. A 2007 trip to her husband's hometown, Toraja in South Sulawesi, saw entrepreneur and women's rights activist Dinny Jusuf become fascinated by traditional weavers living in the region.
Using back-strap loom to slowly weave colorful fabrics bearing sacred Torajanese motifs, these economically disadvantaged craftswomen relied on their creations as a main source of income, while having to navigate dual roles as a weaver and a housewife. It was a situation only worsened by fluctuating tourist numbers and an insecure market to sell their crafts.
“Prices and demands are still low, made worse by wooden machines and factories copying their indigenous designs and selling them cheap,” said Dinny.
This is a common story across Indonesia for rural female weavers.
“Many women then resort to working as migrant workers and many come back abused or with unwanted pregnancies,” she added.
Spurred by her spirit to empower Indonesian women and preserve the country’s textile heritage, Dinny started an initiative called Toraja Melo — meaning “Beautiful Toraja” in the local language — two years after the enlightening visit.
Toraja Melo started out by facilitating the establishment of seven weaving collectives in the Toraja region. These groups were subsequently consolidated into an independent cooperative to provide members with an opportunity to pursue other economic activities in addition to weaving.
“We aim to stop this cycle of poverty and violence by using weaving as the entry point,” Dinny explained.
In 2010, Dinny and her sister Nina Jusuf decided to transform Toraja Melo into an official social enterprise. They divided the initiative into a foundation focusing on community development programs for the weavers as well as a fashion brand that will financially sustain their mission.
Since then, Toraja Melo has been expanding quickly. Now they are working with approximately 1,000 weavers, not only in Toraja but also Mamasa, West Sulawesi, and Adonara and Lembata islands in East Flores, East Nusa Tenggara.
“The main challenge in our areas of work is marketing,” Dinny said. “Our weavers make beautiful textiles but they have no knowledge where to sell it or how to make it more appealing to customers.”
The branding of Toraja Melo provides a solution to this, selling an array of fashion and lifestyle products targeted at urban and affluent customers currently available online and at their store in Kemang, South Jakarta.
Most of their offerings are made of textiles directly sourced from the weavers — the proceeds of which, in turn, will finance the work of the foundation.
“The weavers are our collaborators rather than employees,” Dinny said, adding that Toraja Melo buys textiles from partnering weavers upfront at fair prices. This is part of their strategy to ensure that the weavers will be encouraged to continue their craft, while also attracting new ones to join the community.
Toraja Melo works together with the weavers in rejuvenating old motifs and choosing higher quality materials. They also employ around 100 underprivileged women in Jakarta, Bandung and Yogyakarta who act as their seamstresses, shoemakers and bag-makers.
From clothes and accessories for men and women to a variety of gift and home décor items, every piece by Toraja Melo seamlessly blends traditional motifs or hand-woven fabrics with modern shapes. One of their best-sellers, for instance, is a comfortable pair of sarong pants popular among young customers.
At the same time, the foundation of Toraja Melo has launched various programs to empower weavers, such as community organizing and access to micro-finance. They also conduct a regeneration program to pass on knowledge about weaving techniques to the young people in these villages.
“The work of our foundation is focused on capacity building,” Dinny said. Participating weavers would receive trainings not only on textile design or fashion trend but also larger topics such as leadership and women’s rights.
Moving forward, Dinny has set her sights on increasing the number of women working under the auspices of Toraja Melo.
“Our goal by 2025 is to become the shopping destination of Indonesia,” she said, “in collaboration with a least 5,000 weavers across rural Indonesia and at least 1,000 urban poor women who produce the finished items.”
Not to mention, Toraja Melo also plans to open a flagship store in Jakarta and one local store in each region they work in.
“We believe in making a real change,” Dinny said, “and we have to reinstate the respect of the weavers as artisans.”
By : Nico Novito | on 2:02 PM October 23, 2015
No comments:
Post a Comment