A love letter never looked so good
Edward Hutabarat, a fashion designer and cultural practitioner, presents his latest collection for Autumn/Winter 2023, with the KABAKIL Collection, which explores the beauty of Sumba’s signature ikat weaving. Falling in love with every part of the island, from the nature, culture, values, and ceremonies, to the foods and children, has brought him an amazing collaboration with the local artists who have inspired him for over 20 years.
Ikat weaving is the gorgeous Indonesian dyeing technique requiring the skill of expert artisans. To pattern a textile, one has to bundle and bound yarns with string then dye before weaving it into a cloth. The complicated process is also very unique since it takes incredible skills to create it, which represents the patience and passion of the makers.
KABAKIL itself is the finishing technique applied to the Sumba cloth, to keep the threads neat and intact by weaving in a reversed direction and twisting them. The weaving process for the KABAKIL collection was conducted in Rende, Pau, Kaliuda, Prailiu, Kanatang, Haumara and other villages in East Sumba.
The KABAKIL Collection possesses a high cultural value along with philosophies for each pattern. This is what determined Edward Hutabarat to maintain the quality of the cloth as he developed the collection.
