What is the Meaning of Songket ?
The word ‘songket‘ comes from the word sungkit in Malay and Indonesian. Sungkit means ‘touched’ or ‘knitting’. The work of carrying out and pulling gold or silver based threads to produce cloth sheets can also be sung with songket.
One day a piece of thread, it’s time to become a cloth
‘One day a piece of thread, it’s time to become a cloth’ is one of the Malay proverbs that has a meaningful effort to work even though little, will eventually result. This adage is compiled from traditional fabric weaving that takes a long time to leverage the thread gradually to produce a piece of cloth.
Songket cloth is a kind of traditional weaving cloth by Malays in Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei. Usually, songket cloth is woven by gold or silver thread.
In the past, songket cloth was only used by certain groups for occasions or festivals. In the modern era, the use of songket fabric is no longer just for certain groups, but it has expanded to all walks of life because of its highly suitable use in various functions and celebrations.
The complexity of the process of tweaking and tapping the patterns of flora and fauna on songket fabric can be seen in the fineness of the weaving. One of the factors that determine the tendency, the series, and the quality of the songket fabric can also be controlled by the use of appropriate yarns. The types of yarn commonly used are silk, cotton, or polyester. The market price of songket cloth is also influenced by the type of yarn.
Songket cloth highlights patterns and motifs based on a variety of flora and fauna featuring unique characteristics and identities of the Malays. For example, peacock tail patterns, tigers, flowers, and so on. Usually, the pattern on the songket fabric is unique to the fabric. This is because the songket fabrication process can be compared with the painting process of picture frames. The uniqueness of patterns and motifs on songket fabric also reflects the good identity of the Malays and is rich in cultural beauty and customs.