About the Symposium
The First Symposium on Traditional Textiles from the ASEAN Region was organized in December 2005 by the officers and members of the Jakarta-based Himpunan Wastraprema (HW) led by Mrs. Adiati Arifin Siregar, Chairperson, and Dr. Mariah Waworuntu, Chair for External Relations. Its aim was to provide textile experts, researchers, weavers, artisans, entrepreneurs, community workers, students and government decision makers in and around the ASEAN region the opportunity to engage in an exchange of ideas relating to the preservation and better understanding of weaving traditions in ASEAN communities.
Textile specialists and entrepreneurs from seven of the ten ASEAN countries participated in the symposium. Textile experts and enthusiasts from Canada, the United States, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, and Germany also participated.
The Symposium was organized by the Himpunan Wastraprema or the Indonesian Traditional Textiles Society. Its members — textile researchers and collectors — dedicate themselves to the preservation and study of indigenous weaving in Indonesia. The ASEAN Secretariat supported Himpunan Wastraprema in its founding efforts and provided the symposium venue.
By holding periodic gatherings, it is hoped that weaving traditions in the ASEAN region may be kept alive and that each member country will take turns hosting these. The Second Symposium, from 2 to 3 February 2009, will be organized jointly by the National Museum of the Philippines and the Museum Foundation of the Philippines, with guidance from the Himpunan Wastraprema. Primary funding will come from the ASEAN Foundation.
The second symposium’s theme, Sustaining Traditional Textiles of the ASEAN, aims to once again assemble textile experts, weavers, collectors, researchers, and students to continue to learn ways of preserving the tradition of textiles in member countries. Many of these weaving and dyeing methods are deeply rooted in the cultures of ASEAN communities and it is this symposium’s hope to find ways of keeping them sustainable.
The 2009 Symposium will showcase twenty-one sessions. These will consist of presentations of papers on new research and workshops that will demonstrate weaving techniques. Every effort will be made to achieve balance between new ideas and tried and successfully tested concepts, and the participation of experienced specialists as well as younger generations of textile experts. Additionally, the second evening will see a Culture of Clothing Show and a post symposium textile tour of Iloilo will offer a firsthand view of the pineapple fabric weaving industry in this central Philippine island. An exhibition of the broad span of textile traditions in the Philippines from the National Museum of the Philippines collection and that of other Southeast Asian institutions will complement the symposium.
