Preservation of traditional crafts and women’s empowerment in indigenous communities

Short Description:

The Dayak and Punan peoples of Indonesia have a long tradition of crafting everyday items and art from rattan. Harvesting and processing this thorny vine is labor-intensive and traditionally done by women and elders. Our foundation supported this craft through new designs, training, and fair trade sales in Switzerland. Today, the tradition is fading as cheaper materials and more profitable activities take over.

More Details:

Traditional Craftsmanship with Rattan among the Dayak and Punan Peoples of Indonesia

Indigenous communities around the world are known for their rich traditions of craftsmanship, passed down through generations. This is also true for the Dayak and Punan peoples of Indonesia. Their craft was primarily focused on everyday utility items, but also included objects used in religious ceremonies and cultural traditions.

Beds and mattresses were unknown in these communities—instead, they used sleeping mats made from rattan and other long-fibered plants. Rattan is a climbing vine from the palm family (Rotang palms), which needs trees to grow upward and develop its leaves above the forest canopy. Covered in sharp thorns, harvesting these vines requires significant effort. Once collected, the rattan is peeled, soaked, dried, and sometimes smoked or bleached. Depending on the end product, the round vines can be heated and bent into tight curves to make furniture, for example.

Rattan can also be split many times into thin strips and woven into mats. Using dyed strips, artisans often create intricate patterns—and even visual representations of stories or family trees. In Europe, the inner core of the rattan, known as “reed” or peddigrohr, is better known and more commonly used.

Traditionally, the Dayak would collect rattan from nearby forests while working their fields. Back in the village, elderly community members—no longer able to go to the fields—would process the rattan into various items: sleeping mats, filters for sago and rice, baskets, carrying bags, hats, ropes for traps, and many other household tools.

In 1997, Beatrice Brönnimann began supporting women in the village of Mandomai, and later in many other villages, who produced rattan goods. Traditionally, rattan weaving has been women’s work. Together, we developed new product ideas—such as placemats, wall and floor coverings, bags, and baskets—and sold them through several fair trade shops in Switzerland.

With a highly skilled Dayak seamstress named Yusnella, we also developed new designs like pencil cases, eyeglass holders, and handbags. We organized sewing workshops and occasionally helped with marketing. The potential and demand for these items was actually quite high, but supply has become more and more limited.

Few people today want to go through the hard work of harvesting rattan from the thorny palms, and fewer elders are willing or able to carry out the time-consuming crafting process. One key reason is that other activities—like gold panning, harvesting agarwood, or collecting edible bird’s nests—are far more profitable and often less labor-intensive.

Another major challenge is the market demand in Europe. Retailers usually place large orders and require uniform sizes and consistent quality. Meeting these expectations would require a large team of weavers and a strong logistical setup, including storage, quality control, and marketing. Over time, our foundation Eco Hapakat could no longer sustain this project, and we decided to let it come to a close.

Rattan is not the only natural material traditionally used. Wood carving and objects made from natural rubber also have a long history. While some of these traditions still exist today, many have become “unprofitable professions.”

Unfortunately, synthetic materials such as industrial packing straps have increasingly replaced rattan. These synthetic alternatives are cheap, extremely durable, weather-resistant, and easy to work with—without the risks of injury from thorny palms.

That said, we are always open to new initiatives and collaborations to revive these traditions. However, due to limited capacity, we are not in a position to start a new project on our own at this time.