From Gedong To Barcelona With Love

From Nik Nurfaqih Nik Wil

BARCELONA, Feb 29 (Bernama) -- Never had she ever dreamt that one day the songket she weaves from her hometown in Gedong, a small town in Sarawak, could bring her to travel the world.

Ramtiniwaiti Ramlee, 38, who started crafting the traditional Malaysian handwoven fabric in her 20s, is now in Barcelona, Spain to represent the country and the National Information Dissemination Centre (Nadi), the initiative which has helped shape her songket's business to date.

Shocked but honoured, the award winning Nadi entrepreneur said the invitation from Nadi to represent the country at the capital city of Catalonia region, meant the world to her and her songket's journey. 

"Before this I won the best Nadi entrepreneur award in Sarawak, after that I was invited to participate in the programme here. I feel moved and grateful to Nadi under MCMC (Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission) for giving me the opportunity to further develop my product in Barcelona and to Nadi helping entrepreneurs like me," she said.

She was met by Bernama at the Nadi booth under the Malaysian Pavilion at the Mobile World Congress Barcelona 2024 (MWC2024).

Songket, dubbed 'Ratu Kain' in Malay weaving, is woven using a kek, a traditional, two-pedal floor loom. The final product is a delicate fabric resulting from months of skilled handloom weaving by expert artisans. 

The traditional woven fabric was also listed under the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation's List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, the highest recognition in the world for intangible cultural heritage.

Recalling her early weaving days, Ramtiniwaiti said her business started with only a small team of friends and community around her home. 

It was when she met Nadi that her business managed to expand and grow big.

"I learned to make songket from 2006, then I looked for experience on weaving skills. Starting around 2014, I started making it myself and selling songket.

"After I met Nadi around 2018, I started being active on a large scale, and from 2019 we started meeting regularly, discussing how to know the market, and I followed some of the training that Nadi did at that time," she said.

Prior to Nadi, Ramtiniwaiti who owns Seri Gedong Songket, said she only sells her product physically at stores in Gedong, Serian and Kuching and could only get monthly sales below RM8,000 due to small market reach.

"But after getting to know Nadi, I started to see that we can make many more products. Right now I can make almost RM20,000 a month from sales.

"Now I have 15 of my own workers, and I also help the community to earn wages in making songket," she said, adding that her sales now have not only reached the peninsula, but also overseas including Singapore, London and Canada.

Thanking Nadi and MCMC, she expressed her hope that her presence at the MWC 2024 could help reach the world on how Malaysia had been helping small and medium entreprenuers like her, via programmes such as Nadi.

"Going forward I also hope that I can market my products to the whole country (Malaysia) and also every country (in the world)," she said.

-- BERNAMA