Ancient technique of ikat in danger of disappearing

A 19th-century shawl from Palembang, Sumatra, using both songket and weft ikat techniques. This limar textile was the preserve of the royals and the nobility. Photo: Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia

Malaysians and Indonesians know “ikat” as a cloth with a pattern made by resist-dyeing the threads – the warp, the weft, or both – before weaving.

Many believe that ikat (which also describes the process, similar to tie-dyeing) originated here. But the technique is nearly universal and has been found for hundreds of years in Central and South America, the countries along the Silk Road, India, Japan and other South-East Asian countries.