Forty-three-year-old weaver Uli Artha Panggabean often posts online about the deforestation occurring on the shores of Lake Toba, North Sumatra. Her anxiety is not without reason; many raw materials used to make ulos come from the forest, including wood to make looms and various plants to make the dyes.

Uli has been interested in weaving since a young age. 

“Maybe being an ulos weaver has become my life’s destiny. The more I stay away from it, the more it calls me,” Uli said.

Uli is in the third generation of ulos weavers from her family lineage, with her grandmother and mother coming before her. Neither her grandmother nor her mother had wanted Uli to become a weaver. 

Like most traditional Batak parents, her mother wanted her to go to school, find a well-paying job and become an office worker or civil servant, anything but an ulos weaver.

After school, Uli left her village and worked for a company in another city. In 2013, she returned to her hometown, firm in her dream to become an ulos weaver.

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