THE LAUNCH OF MATA TULU DEO NATURAL DYE GARDEN IN KUPANG

By: Nelly Andon

This year we were truly proud to have successfully launched a small natural dye garden, as a gift of love to Mata Tulu Deo weaving cooperative, in Kampung Savu, Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. We helped build this garden as part of an appreciation for their amazing work in preserving Savu ceremonial textiles and their hard work to respect nature and the environment. We hope that through this garden, every Savu textile lovers would be able to learn more about these beautiful textiles and learn how to weave and to dye using natural dye materials.

This garden is now open to the public and welcoming you all to visit and see varieties of Natural Dye plants used in dyeing Savu textiles. See a short video of this garden here.

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Ama Tobo is the head of the weaver’s group, a truly talented man who is loyal to nature and his ancestors. We met Ama Tobo in 2014, where we distributed reading glasses to the weavers there, and developed our friendship with the group and help with small things when we can, such as connecting them to buyers and share stories about their textiles in cyberspace. We are very happy to say that our friendship has blossomed and hope to continue blossoming for years to come.

This garden was initiated t in June last year and is located in Kolohua, in the suburban part of Kupang, the capital city of East Nusa Tenggara. If you would like to visit, don’t hesitate to contact Ama Tobo directly, on +62 822-3796-4118, he is very savvy with Whatsapp communication, sadly but doesn’t speak English. He speaks Indonesian with Savu dialect, so you may find him hard to understand, but he explains himself well. But don’t worry about not able to communicate with them, we have a lot of English speaking volunteers who can help you with your visit, just give us a call, we will do our best to arrange this for you. I am happy to translate your wish if you want to connect with him, our services are free.

If you wish to arrange a lesson (workshop and weaving demonstration), he does expect a small contribution towards arranging this for you. Happy to assist you if you want to visit to attend workshops or weaving demonstration.

The weavers there are actively weaving daily, so they have a lot of textile in stock, old and new. Old motifs are reproduced regularly, and clients/buyers can order by showing textile samples or pictures.

Enjoy Mata Tulu Deo Garden, a little step towards preserving culture and nature.

Sincere gratitude to our team Olvira Ballo, Tara Pakpahan, Permatawati Santi and the Mata Tulu deao weaving cooperative: Tobias Lomi Ratu (ama Tobo), Berthaniawati (Mama Berta) and all members of their weaving cooperative.

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