The large number of creative economy actors who innovate to produce eco-friendly products encourages public awareness of the need to use eco-friendly products. Of the many existing brands, Sakombu Eco Basket is one of the local Indonesian brands that continues to strive to produce eco-friendly products.

Dewi Febriana Syamri, the founder of Sakombu Eco Basket, is dedicated to giving new life to wild plants that are often considered a disadvantage. This commitment has driven Dewi to use natural fibers to create high-value handicraft products.

Dewi started creating craft products as woven bags since studying at the Jakarta Arts Institute (IKJ). "Personally, I like woven crafts, and I want to highlight crafts from my hometown in Ranah Minang, West Sumatra, which happen to be woven crafts themselves," said Dewi.

One thing that attracts attention is that the Sakombu Eco Basket product utilizes a natural fiber called "mansiang," a type of wild grass or weed that grows in swamps. Local communities empower these natural fibers to be transformed into woven products. From there, Sakombu Eco Basket developed this woven design to be varied and more contemporary.

The process of making Sakombu products begins with a series of natural stages. The first harvest of mansiang fiber takes nine months. After that, it is dried under direct sun for several days and then flattened by shaving to make the fiber easy to weave into bags or baskets.

“The more detailed the product, the longer it takes to make. For one large tote bag, for example, it can take approximately three days to weave. That doesn't even include the duration of the fiber drying and shaving process," explained Dewi.

Overall, Sakombu Eco Basket has produced more than 60 products since 2018. At first glance, Sakombu Eco Basket products may not be as numerous as other local brands. However, for Dewi, the number of products is influenced by the long handcrafting process with selected local craftswomen. That is why Sakombu Eco Basket products are not mass-produced products.

The presence of Sakombu Eco Basket is the perfect choice for looking beautiful without harming the Earth. As an eco-friendly product, 90% of Sakombu products are raw woven products without coloring, meaning they only rely on the color of the mansiang fiber itself. Meanwhile, synthetic colors are only for around 10% of the production process.

Sakombu products are available online via social media, and Sobat Parekraf can also get Sakombu Eco Basket products at several offline stores in Jakarta and Bali. Apart from that, Sakombu Eco Basket also often receives special orders for marketing abroad, one of which is to Paris.

Photo: The discussion process of making Sakombu Eco Basket products involving women (Doc. Sakombu Eco Basket)

Eco-friendly Products that Empower Women

Another interesting fact is that Sakombu Eco Basket seeks to empower groups of craftswomen, including housewives, with a simple standard of living. Amazingly, this group of craftswomen ranges in age from 50 to almost 80. “Their weaving skills must continuously empower. Moreover, these eco-friendly products must also continue to be developed and proud of," said Dewi.

Dewi admitted that she went directly to visit craftswomen in inland areas. To build emotional closeness, Dewi spent some time in the craftswomen's house, weaving activities together, discussing intensely and familially about developing, modifying and creating new designs.

Initially, conveying new ideas to craftswomen who were used to weaving the same shapes was challenging. However, the craftswomen were finally interested in trying by continuing to provide encouragement, enthusiasm, and references on woven work developments. “Finally, we went through a trial and error process together. So, now we have created dozens of new designs under the Sakombu Eco Basket banner," Dewi was proud.

Even more impressive is that Sakombu Eco Basket has won many awards. One of them was the Deureuham (Islamic Creative Economy Competition) in 2019, the 2023 Good Design Indonesia (GDI) award from the Indonesian Ministry of Trade, being included in the Good Design Award contest in Japan, and succeeding in becoming one of the Indonesian craft products that received the G-GDA Marks 2023.

In addition, Sakombu Eco Basket has collaborated with other local brands. One of them is "Sejauh Mata Memandang" (SMM). Sakombu Eco Basket participated in this collaboration as a complementary accessory for SMM at Jakarta Fashion Week 2020. It was also successfully included in one of the editions of Harper's Bazaar Indonesia magazine.

Cover: One of the products from Sakombu Eco Basket (Doc. Sakombu Eco Basket)