Finding new means to promote culture
Published on: Sunday, March 31, 2019
By: Lorena Binisol
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She was stunned to learn that a simple gift like a magnetic fridge-door attachment figurine of a person dressed in a Shanghainese costume could become an attraction to tourists visiting Shanghai. The fridge decoration was finely produced in a three-dimensional form.
The trip changed Shelley’s perspective about her own local products and helped her to innovate by creating more souvenirs with local motifs. It was a turning point in her life which made her a small-time entrepreneur.
Some of Shelley’s collections over the years.
“It made me think about that particular fridge-door attachment, how nice it would be if that figurine is clad in the traditional costumes of the Kadazans, Murut, and others.
“I saw the need to start something and made the first move,” she said.
Besides, it was an opportunity to promote her culture, heritage and show to the younger generations.
She created several types of accessories apart from the fridge magnets, earrings, necklaces, mugs – mostly with natural resources and motifs.
Some of her first designs.
Sourcing for raw materials saw her going into the rural areas and finding out about her own tradition.
She was certain that what she would become a source of inspiration to the younger generation to appreciate and remember their heritage and culture.
Passion and patience go hand-in-hand: Shelley showing the tedious job in making earrings.
“Being able to produce something with local natural raw materials is a great achievement and a pride to us natives.
“We are empowering our own people that they can generate income by producing their own local motifs and make them aware that things available in their surroundings can be useful and valuable.”
Her yearning to see the younger generation appreciate their own culture, tradition and local products made her feel satisfied.
“We need to pull our resources together to bring up our handmade, locally-owned products and promote them among locals before we can tell outsiders what we have.
“I want to preserve our culture very much. If I do not do something about it, I will feel guilty for the rest of my life.”
She said the community must be educated about preserving this priceless heirloom and appreciate the produce from mother nature.
Raw materials used in Ingot brand products such as earrings.
Shelley worked in the corporate sector before deciding to focus on her family and be a homemaker.
When her only daughter Tatiana @ Nana completed her education, she found she had all the time to pursue her own passion.
Her passion was local culture, tradition and authentic food and it had to do with how she was brought up. She is grateful to her mother for instilling love for her culture since small.
Her husband also gave a helping hand with some of the tedious work.
Shelley recalled Puan Sri Diana Dompok (wife of former Sabah Chief Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok) roping her in as part of the committee for the State Unduk Ngadau in the early 90s.
“She (Diana) insisted that I head the culture unit and had to deepen my knowledge by researching further on the topic.
“It was then that I realised there were so many things I had to learn about our own culture. For example, the costumes of different ethnicities, each with its unique designs and motifs. They also carry stories of their respective tribes. These are our priceless treasures.”
Curiousity soon developed into passion, resulting in producing her own brand.
Her latest creation is called “Ingot”, which means earrings in the Rungus dialect. She researched about the community and came up with the raw materials for the new products.
Sinugizal Asap (left) together with other local women making the raw material taken from a tall tree.
She came across a posting in Facebook called “Rinagu Craft” and contacted the owner. From there, she was introduced to one Hainie Mazni Andong from Kg Inukian, Matunggung, in Kudat.
Hainie’s mother, Sinugizal bte Asap, is an expert basket weaver. The raw material used is called “Lingkong”/Ribu-Ribu, a plant that grows really tall and only found deep in the jungle.
“I used the Lingkong to do my earrings. The villagers were doubtful that I could produce earrings from this material because all the time they only saw Lingkong as only suitable to make baskets,” she said.
The challenge in seeking out the Lingkong plant and carrying it out of the jungle was something Shelley could not grasp.
The plant is so tall and it is hard to pull the stem down but villagers managed to carry them out. She was impressed and touched with their physical strength as it is not easy to collect such material only available in the deep jungle.
“Funnily, most work was done by women. Probably the men did too but it wasn’t as obvious as how the women discharged theirs. I salute them with all my heart,” Shelley said.
Shelley does her work from home and takes time to design earrings and necklaces through trial and error.
Each day she was able to design several types but needed to control its quality and not over-produce the same pattern.
Shelley (right) is impressed with the Rungus women’s crafting skills.
She finds Rungus women to be the best basket weavers as they are able to weave with their bare hands and produce beautiful and authentic crafts.
Shelley’s daughter Nana helps with the marketing and designing. Seeing potential to go big with her creation “Ingot”, she continued to be innovative and creative in producing many more designs that have commercial value.
“I usually don’t make a lot of each design. The most is two as I want my products to be special and exclusive. I am also very particular on its quality control. I make sure the end products are up to standard.”
Shelley now plans to market her products globally.
“I have a vision to take these products international. I believe in my dream. It will happen one day,” said Nana.
“My daughter cautioned me saying my products will suffer a natural death one day if there is no innovation or improvement.”
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