Bags made by Daising.
KOTA KINABALU: For 70-year-old Daising Darum, craft-making has been her vocation all of her life after she acquired the skill from her aunt and mother.
She told The Borneo Post that she had been requested many times to show off her skills at expositions held at the state capital and elsewhere in the State.
Daising is a unique individual who possesses a dying skill and the crafts that she made are unique arts which are becoming extinct, mainly because no one wants to carry on learning what she had learned and perhaps because the income derived from making them is too little.
However, the meagre income generated by the industry is probably very much the fault of our local craft-makers.
When asked how much she would charge for a beautiful handbag that she has made, Daising said it would be for less than RM100.
She said she was lucky because the buyer who bought the bag had offered to pay her more than what she quoted.
“My buyer told me that I am pricing my work way too low. Do you think I am pricing it too low?” she asked speculatively.
When The Borneo Post agreed, Daising just nodded nonchalantly and mentioned that she was expecting that.
When asked on the processes that she had to undertake to create each of the crafts, Daising enumerated several steps.
“I have to look for the rattan in the forest, cut them into thin slices, cook the slices that have darker colours and weave them into shape. Each step takes several days to perform and required careful attention,” she said.
Hearing the many steps needed to create the crafts, it was hence mind boggling to have her priced the beautifully crafted bags, mats and back packs for so little.
“My buyer has taught me that I should put a higher price for all of them because they are not only pretty but also very durable since they are made of rattan. They were meant to be used for a long time, not something you buy today and throw away tomorrow because of the lack of quality,” she said.
Despite knowing that she was charging too little for so much work, Daising still faces a dilemma.
“I still wonder what would be the right price for these crafts,” she said.
Her dilemma is probably shared by other crafts-makers who are equally talented as her.
The handbags she makes could last for more than three years unlike many of the foreign-made bags found in many shopping outlets today.
Not only that, the look of each design is distinct and exotic and truly showcases the beauty of Sabah’s natural resources and the work of our local craftsmen.
Hence, it is a pity that talented local craft-makers like Daising are not being paid enough for their hard work and beautiful creations that they painstakingly create to make a living.