The Tun Jugah Foundation

The Foundation maintains that the preservation of traditional patterns is also of utmost importance because they identify the Iban society. The Foundation however, is not adverse to the use of modern materials for making pua’ in as long as they do not eliminate the quality and identity of pua’. Imported cotton and silk has proven to be suitable material for making pua’. Silk can be dyed using morinda without undergoing the ngar process but they seldom achieve the rich deep burgundy colour. Cotton, however, can be dyed using other natural dye like engkerbai leaves, tarum (indigo) leaves and bark of sebangki tree, without going through the ngar process.

Perhaps one of the greatest problems faced by Iban weavers today is how to use chemical dye correctly so that the products can be colourfast. The Foundation is looking into ways of rectifying this problem and hopes to be able to help weavers achieve the desired colours that are colourfast. At the same time, the Foundation urges weavers to plant cotton, and natural dye plants like engkudu (morinda), engkerbai and renggat/tarum (indigofera). The department has achieved and hopes to achieve its objectives via the following:

Local and international exhibitions
Workshops, seminars, talks and lectures
Weaving classes
Weaving competitions
Visits to places where there are weaving and weaving-related activities
Joint research projects with academic institutions
Joint projects with crafts organizations
Providing resource centres for weaving
Publications

The Department has successfully co-organized an international exhibition of Iban ikat fabrics and weaving demonstration, in the United States of America. It was jointly organized with the Muscarelle Museum of Art (College of William and Mary in Virginia, Williamsburg) and the National Science Foundation, USA, July - August 1998.

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