Wednesday 14 March 2012

Arts & Handicrafts

Last time my parents were here (3 1/2 years ago) we covered most of the sights of Brunei (because to be honest, they ain't that many...); but one thing they missed out on was the 'Arts & Handicrafts Center'.
So yesterday we had a little bit of time in between jobs to do and kids to pick up, and went into Bandar to visit it.



It's located on the water front, not very far off the center of town.



The fine arts and crafts of Brunei date back to centuries and are part of the nation's proud heritage. Apparently they are conducting courses in silverware, brassware, wood carving, songkok-making, weaving and basketry at this 'Arts & Handicrafts Center'.





We didn't see any of those classes though, only the small display of items in the shop. Only new silver work and weaving produced by the students were available there, and most of the items were very expensive.





But there we go, now we have seen this too!

2 comments:

Rozi said...

The classes are all upstairs, apart from the silver and brassware, those are in the basement, you take the elevator to get to them. Maybe you could've asked to see the classes in progress. The items are expensive because of the real gold and silver threads they use in the weaving and metalware as they are ordered in. They have yet to realise there is a possibility to use cheaper materials instead...

Have you visited to the museum that is across the river? You can see the structure from the banks, its the building with a tower of a sort... I'll get back to you on what that museum is called...

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