Apart from having many beautiful tourist destinations in essentially all parts of the island, Lombok is also rich in culture. One of the manifestations of the culture that you can see in Lombok is the handicraft. The most famous is, of course, songket cloth woven by the Sasak tribe.
But there is another interesting craft called cukli that can only be found in Lombok. Its center is in Central Lombok, in the village of Lendang Re. Cukli is an indigenous Lombok craft that you can’t find anywhere else.
Cukli
Cukli is a wood processing technique to make it more attractive by adding seashells as decoration. The cukli technique can be used to decorate furniture, ashtrays, bowls, jewelry boxes, and many others.
The idea is pretty simple but the application needs extraordinary skills. Small holes are made into the wood according to the desired pattern, and then the seashells are inserted into the hole before then stained with the desired colors.
The results are amazing; a high quality work of art that is made entirely by hand. The wood and shells used were chosen from the best quality and imported from several other islands in Indonesia.
Lendang Re Village
The center of the Cukli craft is in Lendang Re Hamlet, Barabali Village, Batukliang District, Central Lombok. This village is about 10 km from the city of Mataram and Lombok International Airport. Road access is quite good even though there are no special signs that direct you to come to this village. If you have a GPS, you should have no problem finding it.
Making Cukli
If you are in this village, you can witness firsthand the production of cukli by the master craftsmen. You can also see the handicrafts directly in the form of sofas, chairs, tables, and many more. Each element in the cukli is installed by hand so that it becomes highly unique and beautiful artwork. If you visit a showroom of the craftwork, you can admire every detail carefully.
Endangered crafts
In the 90s, the cukli industry entered the golden era and almost all residents in Lendang Re worked as craftsmen. But after the Bali 1 bombing, the demand for this craft continued to decline. As a result, the number of craftsmen was decreasing because many of them changed jobs. At present, there are only around 4 families who are still consistent being craftsmen in Lendang Re.
Your own custom cukli
If after seeing all the cukli handicrafts in Lendang Re you are still not interested in buying anything, you can order custom according to your choice. If you already have your own picture, you can bring the blueprint there or a discussion with the craftsmen to discuss what you want. Make sure you discuss everything thoroughly so that there is no misunderstanding later.
Cukli is a typical Lombok craft which is becoming rarer. These are authentic Lombok souvenirs that you can get at fairly cheap prices if you buy in the village of Lendang Re.
