Long before dyeing came into our civilization’s textile culture, humans made do with the simpler approach when decorating their attire: needles, thread and beads sprinkled with a dose of creativity.

Centuries passed before the art of decorative hand stitching was refined into what we know today as embroidery.

“The art of hand embroidery has been overshadowed by batik and woven cloth. People rarely realize that Indonesia also has a wealth of embroidered textiles,” said Salfrida Nasution, an embroidery enthusiast and collector of traditional embroideries.

Earlier this month, the walls of Central Jakarta’s Textile Museum presented to the public a glimpse of that wealth in the form of colorful wall hangings bearing floral patterns.

For those more accustomed to machine embroidery typically found in kebayas, brace yourself for a surprise. The golden, silver and rainbow-colored patterns are sewn by hand, stitch by stitch and line by line.

Silver grape vines on a turquoise canvas and golden symmetrical flowers on a burgundy fabric are the living proof that small-scale entrepreneurs in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam and West Sumatra still practice the art of hand embroidery.

Long layers of fabric covered in mix-hued floral patterns, appearing as if they had been painted by brush, will amaze us and make us appreciate the fine works that human can still do with their hands.

Not to mention the persistence and patience required to finish such masterpieces.

“This kind of piece took at least three months to finish. West Sumatran women are still making a living out of this art,” Salfrida explained.

Aceh, West Sumatra and several areas in Kalimantan are a few of the provinces that specialize in hand embroidery.

“Looking at the patterns and techniques, Sumatran hand embroidery is heavily influenced by Chinese embroidery. The use of additional plastic and mirror beads is probably taken from the Indian-style embroidery,” she continued.

The recent discovery of embroidery with beads in Nusa Tenggara —which still needs to be further investigated — shows the decorative art culture is widespread in the country, Salfrida highlighted.

Embroidery in Indonesia has not received much attention until earlier this year, when the ministry of culture and tourism held the “Gebyar Adikarya Sulam Indonesia” exhibition at the National Museum in April. The five-day event, which included a bazaar and a design competition, booked more than Rp 700 million (US$73,000) worth of transactions, showing the extent of the economic potential of Indonesian embroidery.

The Indonesian Embroidery Foundation chaired by Triesna Wacik is one of the few organizations paying attention to preserving the traditional art.

“Part of why it has not become a popular art form is the limited number of designs. A craftsman — or in this case craftswoman — often only produces a single pattern over and over, so collectors or buyers usually only keep a piece of that kind,” Triesna said.

Most artisans embroider as a past time only here, which prevents them from producing, marketing and distributing their work, Salfrida added. This is perhaps what has kept Indonesia behind other countries when it comes to hand embroidery. The most advanced in the field are China, Japan and South Korea with their fine needlework.

Embroidery is found in Western Europe, Eastern Europe and Arabic countries. Africa was also introduced to the art in the 20th century.

Not much research has been carried out until now to find out when people started to embroider, but historians say the oldest works that survived date back from ancient Egypt, the Iron Age in Northern Europe and China’s Zhou Dynasty. Most of those works are found in the textiles owned by aristocrats, making embroidery an art for the elite.

China, having first discovered and used silk, is renowned for embroidery. Cross-stitch works on silk adorn many cloths in royal tombs.

During the era of Byzantium and medieval Europe, embroidery developed as a decorative art for the elite, while in Asia and South America, embroidery was more accessible to the masses.

Hand-embroidery art reached its finest development during the Rococo period, Salfrida explained.

Golden threads sewn with the basic techniques of chain stitch, running stitch and cross-stitch embellished royal robes and attire.

While other textile decoration techniques have branched out over the years, embroidery shares a basic approach all over the world.

Using that shared basic approach, England developed its royal Blackwork and Elizabethan embroidery, Germany came up with its Berlin Wool Work and Italy — known as a master in all crafts — popularized its Casalguidi art.

“The most recent development is the introduction of embroidery techniques in Africa. Several NGOs taught the art to locals who have been developing their own patterns since the late 1990s,” Salfrida explained.

Meanwhile, in Indonesia, the art of hand embroidery is either left to the decreasing number of craftswomen or to our grandmothers as the younger generation deem the craft “boring”.

“It is one art that requires a lot of patience and persistence. And you have to go through a long process before being able to do beautiful works. Not many have it in them to master this art, and those who do often don’t know where to start or where to learn it,” she added.

Salfrida and several hand-embroidery enthusiasts under the Indonesian Embroidery Community volunteer once a month to share their knowledge with others who want to go beyond the typical cross-stitch work.

“The Vietnamese tourism development includes making hand-embroidered souvenirs with modern design to introduce their culture to the world,” Salfrida said.

“We could do the same if more people were interested in learning this art.”

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