An exploration study of the potential of weaving techniques in metal application / Rozita Shamsuddin

Weaving is one of Malaysian cultural heritage that facing declining nowadays, but
there is room for innovation. It is necessary to explore creative design solutions in
order to make this technique sustainable. The exploration of different techniques
from different fields will encourage and promote traditional skills and handicrafts
into becoming a commercially viable con,cern and to foster its growth from the
cottage industry to reach the level of a small-scale industry. It is necessary to create a
new invention in order to enhance the weaving technique with a new approach in
terms of new material besides pandanus leave, mengkuang leave, bamboo or rattan.
The combination of weaving technique with metal will creates an innovative design
in metal application in the future.
To fulfill this purpose, this research utilized an exploratory research. The exploration
weaving technique in metal application was done to get a result of the combination
between technique and metal. An observation towards weaving technique aim to
understand and learned how the process of the technique was done. A set of
Questionnaire used to evaluate consumer's opinion and response on the knowledge
about weaving technique on jewellery. Based on the questionnaire outcome the
making ofproduct prototyping was begun.
The finding of this research is 'Plain Weave', the simplest weave construction and
'Simple Coiling Weave' has a potential weaving technique to be applied on metal
like copper or silver. Metal from wire is suitable to be applying using weaving
technique compared with metal sheet because it is easy to form. The specific
thickness ofwire is the important criteria to make a product from weaving technique.
The exploration is successfully fulfilled the aim and objective of this research. The
product is a new finding in jewellery making in Malaysia using weaving technique.
The outcome of this research is one of the solutions to preserve our cultural heritage
with a new invention and design.