Dumbara rata kalala runner
Three weeks on a pit loom in Thalagune, in a pattern held only in the weaver's head.
$340
Karunawathi Menike
- The pit loom at Thalagune
- Thalagune, Udu Dumbara, Central Province
- 1986
Karunawathi weaves in a pit her grandfather dug into the floor of the house in 1948. The weaver sits at the edge with their legs down in the pit and works the treadles with their feet, which is why the loom has never moved and never will. She started at fourteen, in 1986, sitting beside her mother and being allowed to throw the shuttle on the plain sections only.
Dumbara rata kalala is the only figured weaving tradition on the island that predates the Portuguese. The patterns are counted, not drawn — hansa puttuwa, the twinned swans; the elephant; the running lotus — and they are held in the head of whoever is weaving. There is no cartoon pinned to the loom. Karunawathi knows nine and can recall a tenth if she has the first row in front of her.
A runner takes her three weeks. She does not weave in the afternoon between one and three, because the heat makes the hemp go slack and the beat comes out uneven, and she would rather lose the hours than the line.
Their work in the shop
Thalagune handloom throw
Plain weave, two stripes, and a fringe knotted by hand at both ends.
$180
Indigo handloom sarong
The check is woven from dyed thread, not printed on afterwards.
$96
Tiny handloom sarong
The same cloth as the grown-up one, with an elastic waist so it stays on.
$44
Dumbara ceremonial hanging
Nine weeks, four patterns, and the only piece of its size she makes in a year.
$1,400
