Desa Craft

Beautiful  brassware

Creative batik works

Traditional Songket weaving

Desa Craft or formerly known as Usaha desa is an interesting handicraft center which showcases local handicraft products such as brassware, songket weaving, the traditional and contemporary batik

The center was first established by the Terengganu State Development Corporation in its effort to promote local handicraft  products of Terengganu  in Kuala Terengganu as a popular tourist destination.

Desa Craft is located in the center of Kuala Terengganu and is acessible by taxi, bus or on foot. For enquiries please contact :

Desa Craft
Ground Floor, Wisma Maju,
Jalan Sultan Ismail,
20200 Kuala Terengganu
Phone : +609 636 627
or
Terengganu Tourism Office  Tel : 609 622 1433 /1893 

Batik Terengganu

Terengganu is famous for its beautiful batik designs. Batik is a fabric dying method by using wax to create designs and patterns. In Terengganu there are basically 2 types of batik, the hand drawn and  the stamped block printed batik. Lately there is also the machine printed batik.

The hand drawn batik uses a special copper pen called the "canting" which is filled with melted wax and drawn across the cloth to create patterns and designs. When the wax outline are done, the artist uses a brush to paint the color dyes within the outline. This enables the artist to vary the color hues and shades for the design.When, the color is dry, a layer of sodium silicate is applied on the fabric to fix the color and left for at least 4 hours. The wax areas resist dye. The cloth is then boiled in warm water to get rid of the wax. Hang the batik fabric to dry.

The stamped batik goes through the same process like hand drawn batik. The only differance is that the canting pen is now replaced with copper or wooden stamp blocks bearing artistic patterns at the bottom. Various types of cloth are use for batik such as cotton, rayon, viscose and silk. The price of batik depends much on the type of cloth it is made as well as the type, whether it is hand drawn or stamp printed.

Stamp printed batik does not use intricate design like the hand drawn batik. The hand drawn batik bears exclusive design and takes more time to produce. As such, hand drawn batik are much more expensive than the stamp printed batik.

One of the popular batik manufacturer and retailer in Terengganu as well as in Malaysia is Nor Arfa Batik. Nor Arfa Batik is reputed to be the leading batik industry player in Malaysia and has many times participated and organised fashion shows around the world showcasing  its beautiful and fine quality batik outfits.

Today batik products are not limited to clothes and outfits for men and women only. Batik are also use to make cushion covers, bags, curtains and slippers. Batik products make  handsome souvenirs or gifts, so don't forget to get some for your friends or family during  your trip to Terengganu.

Songket Terengganu

Songket is a traditional  malay cloth made by weaving together cotton or silk interwoven with golden, silver or colored threads to make up beautiful geometric designs. The term "songket" in Malay means to embroider with gold or silver threads. Kain songket or the Songket cloth is usually made into samping or baju kurung. Both are traditional malay garments used in weddings or festive season.

Beautiful Terengganu Songket

There main types of Songket in Terengganu  are :

• Songket Bunga Telur - this beautiful handmade Songket is usually used to make kebaya, kebarung or other ladies traditional dresses.

• Songket Kain Samping - these creative  handmade and intricately designed men's wrap cloth are usually worn by Malay men during wedding, major festive season or in formal events.

• Songket Tenun Sutera - these are songket made from 100% silk and are much demanded by ministers or VIPs for its beautiful and fine handmade craftsmanship.

The Terengganu Songket is well known in Malaysia for its high quality  cloth as they are handmade and use materials of high quality. So if you're planning to buy a souvenir for someone special a songket cloth makes a fine gift.