Cultural Exchange Trip to Malaysia

A team from the School has just concluded a two-week Cultural Exchange in Malaysia which took them to the states of Terengganu and Perak. In Terengganu, the team worked with designers and weavers of the Foundation of the Queen of Malaysia, which is focusing on the revival of the art of songket or textile weaving with supplementary weft in gold. The team from the School and local designers and weavers worked jointly to produce contemporary designs for songket, which will be woven and presented at an exhibition in our gallery in Shoreditch in June 2011. The same process occurred in Kuala Kangsar, the home of the foundation of the wife of the Sultan of Perak, who is promoting the traditional art of tekat or embroidery with gold. Apart from the contemporary designs to be embroidered, a collection of traditional embroidery will be shown in the London exhibition. Traditionally, songket and tekat were reserved for the use of the Royal families. The only exception for the common person to use these royal weaves was at weddings, where the groom and the bride are given the status of royals for the day.The cultural exchange was facilitated by the British Malaysian Society with the support of HSBC Kuala Lumpur and Bank Negara Malaysia (Central Bank of Malaysia). The outcomes of the exchange will culminate with an exhibition to be held first in Kuala Lumpur at the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia, followed by the London exhibition in our gallery in June. "Royal Weaves: The Traditional Textile Arts of Malaysia" will be sponsored by Maybank.