Motifs of Nature in Malay Traditional Craft

The traditional craft experts have creatively utilising the elements of environment to create craft masterpieces. They have meticulously studying and choosing each of the environmental elements to make sure that it goes hand in hand with a particular handicraft they are trying to make. This effort helped to obtain a perfect craft designs. Natural objects from environment are chosen to create motives that serve as the main elements in the variations of decoration. It resulted as handicraft masterpieces that possess the aesthetic values. One thing that we have to realize is the elements from natural environment are the most important elements in making the traditional Malay handicraft. Malay traditional crafted goods are not alien to Malaysians. In Malay society, various kinds of crafted goods have been made by their ancestors such as weave, batik (wax printed patterned cloth), pottery or ceramic, sculpture or woodcarving, tekat or embroidery and songket (a kind of embroidery of gold or silver thread). The discovery of primitive ceramic object in Ulu Tembeling Pahang proved that craft industry existed since the ancient time. The other various kinds of crafted works existed with their own histories. The motives are taken mostly from natural environment that become the basic motives in decorating the surface of the crafted goods. The environmental motives are not only making the particular crafted goods beautiful but they have their own philosophy behind it. It is consisted of visual moral teaching to the society at that time. This study proved that objects from environment have been exploited in traditional craft designs. These can be seen by the existence of flora and fauna motives in the various handicraft related to the life of Malay traditional society that cannot be separated from environment. The major parts of vegetations such as flowers, shoots, fruits, seeds, roots and calyxs became the basic motives to create patterns. The selection of fauna motives and cosmos motives are also popular among traditional crat experts. The selection of the motives usually based on the close relationship between Malay people and their environment. They treat the environment as their basic needs in their lives for food, medicine, culture and customs, arts, clothes, education, agriculture, merchandise and even belief.