Funding to preserve art of weaving

Some of the handmade products sold at Mulberries.

MAYBANK Foundation gave RM1.8mil for their Maybank Women Eco-Weavers programme to help keep the art of traditional weaving alive.

Chief executive officer Shahril Azuar Jimin said the programme was part of the group’s efforts to strengthen women’s empowerment and gender equality in the region in line with the Asean Community Vision 2025.

The eco-weavers programme launched in 2016 has a presence in Cambodia, Indonesia and Laos.

“Most of the investments are in Indonesia and Cambodia, where we spent about RM700,000 and RM800,000 per country,” he said after the Maybank Eco-Weavers hostel launch in Mulberries Silk Farm in Laos where they spent RM350,000 to build the hostel and provide training and support to the farmers.

He said the mandate was to positively impact communities where Maybank has a presence. They found that seven countries in the region had something in common, which was the dying trade and culture of weaving.

He said they used different models for each project as per the requirement of each country.

To date, the programme has successfully trained 345 women, providing them with an average monthly income between USD100 and USD240.

Apart from that, Maybank foundation also seeks to assist the weavers by creating a commercial platform for them, and as such they are organising an exhibition in Malaysia this week.

The Maybank Women Eco-Weavers Live Exhibition will see aspiring visual artists Lugas Syllabus from Indonesia and Shahrul Jamili Miskon from Malaysia collaborating with weavers from Laos, Cambodia and Indonesia to create stunning woven products.

The exhibition aims to continuously promote textiles globally in a sustainable manner, while promoting economic independence and financial inclusion for the women weavers.

These products will be exclusively exhibited from Oct 16 to 26 at Balai Seni Menara Maybank.