Shanghai Expo, Brunei Arts and Tradition on Display

THE Brunei Pavilion at the Expo 2010 Shanghai was busy yesterday making preparations to showcase the Sultanate's arts and tradition to visitors today.

Encountering a quiet day at the Brunei Pavilion with just over 6,500 visitors yesterday, probably due to the rainy weather, the staff of the Pavilion welcomed two craftsmen from Brunei, specially flown in by the Brunei Economic Development Board (BEDB) to let the world in on the arts and tradition of Brunei.

Hj Sabli Hj Omar and Zainal Abidin Hj Ibrahim, a wood carver and a batik producer respectively, are the men Brunei will rely on to show the world what the Sultanate has to offer in linking tradition to trade. 

Both are business owners who shine brightly in their own industries, but both are also better known as designers or artists in Brunei, where their works are seen as valuable artistic creations, and of course, much sought after.

For batik producer and designer, Zainal Abidin Hj Ibrahim who has a glorious record of holding several fashion shows, he certainly hopes to design his way out of Brunei into the world.

He will use both the traditional way of hand-drawing and also computer generated graphics to show interested viewers how the traditional batik of Brunei is produced. Various finished batik products will also be on display at his counter.

As for Hj Sabli, his art works are already on display at the Brunei Pavilion, and he will demonstrate his skills to the expo crowd on how he produces the exquisite carvings.

Both men will begin displaying their skills today, on Day 6 of Shanghai Expo, and hopefully make a name for Brunei and themselves on the international stage. 

The Brunei Times
http://www.bt.com.bn/news-national/2010/05/06/brunei-arts-and-tradition-display-shanghai-expo

Unissa poll : Tourists Splurge On Handicrafts, BATIK

A woman weaving. A poll says handicrafts and batik are among the popular purchases of tourists visiting Brunei. Picture: BT file

HANDICRAFTS and batik were the two most popular purchases that tourists make in Brunei, according to a study conducted by scholars at the Faculty of Business and Management Sciences, Sultan Sharif Ali Islamic University (Unissa).

The study, conducted by Dr Mohamed Sharif Bashir, dean of the faculty and colleague Hjh Nur Annisa Hj Sarbini, showed an increase of $10 million in tourist expenditure last year from $475.5 million in 2008.

In 2009, tourist spendings in Brunei amounted to $485.3 million, based on figures from the World Travel and Tourism Council.

The study was conducted last year to identify the spending patterns of tourists in the Sultanate.

"We wanted to do this study because Brunei has plans to diversify the economy away from oil and gas and tourism is slated to be one of the industries to help this diversification," said Dr Mohamed, in an interview on the sidelines of the recent International Islamic Conference organised by Unissa.

He added that his findings provided a general overview of the Brunei tourism sector. It sought to examine factors to improve Brunei's tourism sector, investigate tourists' profile and their expenditures in Brunei to help provide policymakers with information to implement more adequate and integrated policies in the specific segmented markets.

A questionnaire survey was given to 120 respondents in June last year in different locations in Bandar Seri Begawan, including hotels and shopping complexes in the capital.

"We found that in general, the tourists, were made up of females, between 20 and 30 years old, and that almost 29 per cent of them were Malaysians. The findings also showed that 86.8 per cent of the tourists recommended Brunei as a tourist destination," said Dr Mohamed.

Survey respondents were visitors who made their own travel arrangements and were accompanied by their friends.

Based on the gender profile of the study, it showed that 52 per cent were female and 48 per cent were male. Tourists from Singapore, Indonesia, Korea, Hong Kong, Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom also took part in the survey.

"Major items that were purchased was handicrafts, which was 45 per cent of the tourists surveyed, followed by batik, which accounts for 39 per cent of the respondents," he said. In the paper, titled "Study on Tourists Expenditures Pattern in Brunei Darussalam", the scholars showed that jewellery such as watches and gold, as well as computer and electronic appliances, also grabbed the interests of respondents.

The paper also said that 60 per cent of the respondents said the major attraction for picking Brunei as a tourist destination was because of its "safe environment", as well as the curiosity to find out more about the Sultanate, due to word of mouth from friends and families who have previously visited.

Respondents also recommended improving shopping facilities and public transportation system. 

"Another potential area to be developed is cultural events and more attractive activities for tourists, as many of them said that without these amenities, they wouldn't return to Brunei, so there needs to be a reason for these tourists to want to come back a second time," he said.

The dean also found that Brunei could establish a national brand identity, which could be based on the cultural and heritage background of Brunei. "What uniquely constitutes Brunei, must be promoted to keep the inbound visitors coming, and it also needs to improve many attractions including shopping complexes, transportation and hotel facilities," said the report.

"Although there are about 40 licenced travel agencies in Brunei, only a handful were actively engaged in inbound ground handling operations for foreign tourists, while most licenced travel agencies deal in ticketing and outbound travel," stated the paper. He said that the lack of competition in the inbound tourism sector is limited and has led to the aggressive promotional efforts by the Brunei Tourism Development Department of the Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources. 

"It is without a doubt that Brunei Tourism is targeting the upmarket, discerning and mature segments in the tourist source markets such as Southeast Asian countries like Singapore and Malaysia, have positioned themselves to be a destination for ecotourism, relaxation, wholesome family trips, honeymoons, golfing, and even for stop-over programmes," said the study.

The authors concluded that "policymakers should give more emphasis on the development of the infrastructure including transportation, financial services, hotels and restaurants, entertainment and travelling facilities, such as the ones provided by the Immigration Department for facilitating the tourists' arrival". The paper also suggested the the private sector should play a role in participating to promote tourism activities, as it could bring benefits in terms of generating employment opportunities and increasing incomes, as well as "expanding the production capacity of the small and medium enterprises". The Brunei Times

source :
http://www.bt.com.bn/business-national/2010/03/06/tourists-splurge-handicrafts-batik-unissa-poll

Here's The User Guide and Tool Kit; Go Get Started Batik Chanting

BELOW is how to making batik in five steps:

Step one:

i) A piece of natural fiber cloth (100 per cent cotton or silk recommended).

ii) Paraffin wax (You can melt down candles).

iii) Cold water dyes, kind of a specialty, ask at your fabric store, (I use Dylon Cold Water, the stuff you use for tie dyes).

iv) A pot that can get messy, and a can or jar in which to melt down the wax.

v) An Idea of what you want to sketch on paper.

Step two:

i) Figure out what colours you want and where, this is elaborate, you probably want to start with something simple, just a few colours.

ii) Stretch out your fabric on a frame, you can just cut up a piece of cardboard and duct tape it together.

iii) If you like you can sketch lightly in pencil directly on the fabric your idea, (careful, don't make it too dark, especially if you use light colours, you can see the sketch through the dyes).

iv) Put your jar or can full of wax into a pot of water and boil the water, the wax will melt, be careful to keep the water topped up outside of the jar.

Step three:

i) Assuming you have white in your batik, this will be where you wax first, using a paint brush, brush wax only in the area you want to keep white.

ii) Once the first layer of wax is applied, soak the whole piece of fabric in your lightest colour, (yellow, pink, orange,) until it is as dark as you want it, then hang it to dry.

iii)You do not have to soak your fabric, you may choose to brush or pour the dye on it, but soaking let the cloth absorb colour well.

iv) If you have no white, you will want to dye (or brush) your cloth first in the lightest colour(s) you will ultimately want to see.

This image is poor, but if you look closely, you'll see waxed over white spots in the yellow, (the dye will not set in the cloth where the wax is).

v) Wait for it to dry completely, this art entails a lot of patience.

Step four:

i) Now we just layer on colours, begin with the lightest shades. If your first colour was yellow, you wax over the places where you wish the yellow to remain.

ii) Once waxed, apply the next colour, be it orange, pink, alight green. You will find that some colours mix with previous ones and some cover them up quite well, it's all trial and error really. Also note, the length of time you allow the fabric to dye will darken the colour.

iii) You may wish to brush colours on with a paintbrush. Note in the example, It is dabbed different colours in different places on the cloth, this allows more variety.

Once the dye has dried, wax over the part which you want to remain that colour and continue layering with darker colours.

Note: once you make it dark, you can't make it lighter again, so be sure to go through from all the lighter colours to darker ones.

Very important: Always dry the fabric completely before adding the next layer of wax, if the fabric does not dry completely, the wax will not set and the next dyes will bleed in under the wax. 

If you like the crumpling bled look (picture on top right) crumple the fabric as you dunk it in the dye, this will create random seams in the wax where dye may seep in. If you don't like it, Don't fold or crumple your fabric at all and be very careful that your wax seeps into the fabric completely.

Step five: When you finish the design with waxing and dyeing, and all the dye is dried well (this take a few days), boil a container of water and soak the cloth in it to remove the wax. To remove wax further, place the Batik between sheets of newspaper and iron the newspaper.

The wax will seep out of the batik and into the paper. Change the paper frequently and try to get all of the wax out.

source :
http://www.bt.com.bn/features/2009/08/07/heres_the_user_guide_and_tool_kit_go_get_started