Throughout Sukarara, women sit at backstrap looms on the verandahs of their homes, leaning back against a strap that tensions the warp and working with a shuttle and a wooden beater. The looms are simple — no foot pedals, no metal parts — but the cloth they produce is among the most complex in Indonesia. The signature Lombok songket weaves gold or silver thread through silk or cotton in geometric patterns, while ikat pieces use pre-dyed warp threads to build up images of mountains, fauna, or ancestral motifs.
Visitors are encouraged to try the loom themselves, and many of the cooperatives offer a brief hands-on demonstration before the inevitable visit to the showroom. The lesson is humbling: weaving a centimetre of plain cloth takes most novices ten minutes, and a single mistake unravels the row. The point lands quickly — when a finished piece carries a price tag in the millions of rupiah, it is hard to feel it is too much.