Expanding our reach to more villages and collaborating with more wonderful weavers has become one of the top priorities in our wish list. We are thankful that fate has brought us to this beautiful island called Lembata, one of the islands located in the middle of East Flores District and Alor Islands. As we always try to stand firm above our missions; women empowerment, culture promotion, and livelihoods improvement, these very same dreams have also become our motivation to start our journey here in Lembata. The landscape is mesmerizing and the tradition is also profoundly rich.

The people celebrate “Festival Tiga Gunung” or Three Mountains Festival, and Peanut Festival as part of their culture. The Three Mountains Festival is all about showcasing Lembata’s 3 well-known mountains: Ile Werung, Ile Ape, and Ile Batu Tara. On the other hand, Peanut Festival is more cultural-centric, as the meaning behind the celebration itself is to look back or to appreciate old villages. People can enjoy a lot of traditional dances and attractions performed by adults and children. Palmyra hand-woven containers, Keleka, are used to display and contain the snacks during this festival. Other Lembata’s tourist attraction comes from its nature. One of them is the white sand beach called Waijarang Beach, with a hill that gives you captivating view called “Bukit Cinta” or The Love Hill.

Other than rich in tradition, the sources of material for our products, Palmyra trees, are also very abundant. By optimizing these sustainable resources, we hope to reduce the use of synthetic materials, as well as to give a stronger connection from nature to us humans.

The ocean of Palmyra Trees in Lembata Island

We are beyond grateful to announce that we now have our Weaving House in Petuntawa Village. We are now working with approximately 50 weavers across 8 villages to support women empowerment, and we are not planning to stop here. These weavers may have just started to weave actively, but their determinations to grow with us are unstoppable. Also, there are still many villages here that are yet to be explored. We cannot wait for more interesting things we may find in the future!

Our Weaving House at Lembata Island