Year in Review
The year 2024 has been filled with countless blessings and remarkable opportunities that have helped us grow and thrive. From exciting events to fruitful collaborations, innovative campaigns, and the addition of talented new staff members, each experience has contributed to the unique experience of this year. We are incredibly grateful for the journey this year has taken us on and the chance to work with such amazing people. These opportunities have not only expanded our reach but have also strengthened our commitment to achieving even greater things in the future.
New Additions to the Threads of Life Team
This year, our team has grown with new staff joining our gallery, store, and office. These unique individuals have helped Threads of Life grow beyond what we thought possible. We wanted to introduce these new team members before 2024 comes to an end!
Risma who currently works at Threads of Life original store.
Wayan, with her beautiful smile, ready to welcome you at Threads of Life Gallery in Lungsiakan.
Meet Risma and Wayan! Risma is based at our original Threads of Life store in Central Ubud, while Wayan is currently working at our new Threads of Life gallery in Lungsiakan! You will likely encounter them during your visit to either our gallery or store.
Clockwise from left to right: Gita, Prinka, Ata and Dwiki
Gita and Atalya are two brilliant women new to our office. You might have talked virtually to Gita or Ata on our WhatsApp Business, Instagram, or through email, or perhaps met them in our studio during our natural dye classes and workshops. Prinka and Dwiki are also new to the organisation this year and have been working more behind the scenes. Prinka is a talented writer and keeps our CELLS (Culture, Ecology, Learning Systems) database growing. Dwiki has the most beautiful smile and is an excellent addition to our finance team!
New Campaign and Platform
We activated our WhatsApp Business channel early this year as we wanted to provide accessible customer service and communication platforms for our loyal customers and friends. You can click here to join our WhatsApp Broadcast and get our monthly event and program updates. You can also click here just to say hi so that you can save our number in your contacts!
Follow the latest updates for upcoming events on our Whatsapp Broadcast.
Have you been drawn to our Instagram? This year, we tried something new; we wanted to share our field staff stories from the field with you and added a new Broadcast feature on Instagram. Working with traditional weavers and dyers across Indonesia is a complex undertaking filled with joy, surprises, and challenges. Their stories and perspectives are always eye-opening for us and are a powerful reminder for us to ground ourselves and revisit our vision and mission moving forward. Visit our Instagram page and join our Broadcast on Instagram to dive deeper into our field activities!
You can check live and recent updates from the field, including behind-the-scene photos of upcoming event and process, are all the latest updates for upcoming events on our Instagram Updates.
Memorable Event and Workshop
We held a lovely gathering night in July 2024 as a part of the Vessels of Becoming Exhibition. When we thought about a performance for the gathering night, our event manager immediately thought about her dear friend, Nova Ruth. It was one of the best performances we have seen this year. The audience was mesmerised listening in awe, many of us in tears, but all of us moving to the rhythm of her haunting and powerful voice. We are so grateful for the opportunity to have had Nova Ruth perform at our gallery as well as having so many of you join us on that night. Thank you for your continued support at our events!
Nova Ruth, at the opening of Vessels of Becoming, bewitched us with her powerful voice and lyrics of Javanese wisdom about the current relationship between humans and nature.
Through this simple set, Nova Ruth told so much stories and wisdom.
In June 2024, we began working on a collaboration with Cinta Bumi Artisans who work with botanical printing and barkcloth painting. After months of discussion, trials and preparation, we successfully produced two workshops with Cinta Bumi Artisans and Threads of Life at our natural dye studio as part of the October 2024 Ubud Writers and Readers Festival.
Barkcloth Workshop with Cinta Bumi Artisans.
Threads Friends Favorites
In 2024 we found that the natural dyed, traditional textiles are still the primary reason people visit us virtually and physically. The deep dark indigo and contrasting morinda red Savu textile seemed to captivate most of our visitors' hearts among the range of all the traditional textiles offered in our gallery, store, and on our website.
The exquisite traditional hand made Kalimantan baskets are the most popular item among all the crafts that are offered through Threads of Life’s channels.
Basketry from Kalimantan
Cupai baskets from Dayak Desa communities of Kalimantan
Indigo hands weaving Savunese ikat called Ei Ledo
Savunese ikat for your home
Threads of Life Studio’s Mini Store
With the increasing demand for natural dye classes and workshops, we thought it would be nice to sell pre-scoured ready to dye textiles for our class participants. If you join our classes sometime next year, you can easily purchase a range of sizes of cotton textiles at our studio after the class. Then you can immediately practise what you have learned at home!
Various of textiles from jarit to sayut of Tuban, each is pre-scoured and ready to dye.
Threads of Life Most Memorable Fieldtrip
We are so happy to be back on the road and doing field trips again! We met a younger generation of weavers in Sumba, crossed so many rivers in Sulawesi and saw how patchouli farming and production competes with weaving, along with so many more stories. Out of all these exciting trips, the most memorable field trip was to Flores in July where we were able to participate and witness the Koke Bale harvest ceremony which included replacing the roof of the main traditional house.
One of the thirty two rivers that we have to cross in Central Sulawesi to meet the weavers.
Joining the weavers in Flores to find kinge seashells.
Younger generation of weavers in Sumba.
Singing and dancing in Lembata, Flores.
