Royalty's headdress

Supplementary patterns such as these are heirlooms handed down from grandmother to her granddaughter when she marries so that the traditional patterns will continue. This pattern is called habak or flower that when it is dreamed is said to contain inspiration of a lifetime for a weavers work.

This cloth would traditionally worn over the shoulder by a woman or tied around the head by men as a traditional headdress. A headdress would have the fringe pointing upward while the hip cloth would be worn with the fringe downward – an acknowledgement of the realm of the ancestors and the spirits of the earth and living between these worlds.

Information about the makers will be supplied with each cloth.
Floating warp patterning, single panel, twisted fringe, commercial cotton and natural dyes. Dyed and woven in East Sumba, 2024. Size 170 x 39 cm / 67 x 15.5 in