Bamboo Craftsmen, a Promising Cultural Heritage of Belega Village

Bali with one of its nicknames, the Island of a Thousand Temples, has a myriad of potentials and extraordinary uniqueness, making the island have its own allure. In addition to being famous for the beautiful natural tourist attractions that are very captivating and pleasing to the eyes, Bali is also renowned for its unique and meaningful arts and crafts. Among the regencies/cities in Bali, the regency/city famous for its arts and crafts is Gianyar Regency, precisely in Belega Village.

Belega Village is renowned as a bamboo crafting village and serves as a central area for crafting various bamboo products, including chairs, tables, cabinets, and many more. One of the bamboo companies still actively engaged in crafting using bamboo as the main material is Jaya Kasuma Bambu. This company has been in operation for approximately 25 years. According to the owner of Jaya Kasuma Bambu, Ni Nyoman Sriningsih, Belega Village is known as a bamboo crafting village because it has been a tradition passed down from their ancestors who designed and created craft models using bamboo. This has led the village to be recognized for its bamboo craftsmanship.

Bamboo (Source : Author Collection)

Uniquely, the bamboo used as a material in crafting is sourced exclusively from the Bali region. Based on Ni Nyoman Sriningsih's experience in importing bamboo from various areas outside Bali, she concluded that bamboo from Bali has the best quality. The bamboo used by Jaya Kasuma Bambu is sourced from different regions in Bali, not just from one regency/city. Each region has its own distinctive characteristics, such as Tabanan's bamboo known for its large size, while bamboo from Kintamani tends to be long but with a small diameter.

In general, the stages of the bamboo craft-making process consist of cleaning, drying, sorting, and crafting the products. The initial process, cleaning the bamboo, involves sanding the bamboo first, followed by washing it with water. After the cleaning stage, the bamboo is placed on a stove containing water mixed with certain chemicals, then heated with fire directly beneath the stove. This is done to make the bamboo more robust, durable, and resistant to termites. Subsequently, the bamboo is sun-dried in an open area exposed to direct sunlight. The dried bamboo is then sorted again before being sent to the bamboo craftsmen, where it will be crafted into bamboo products.

In the bamboo craft-making process, it typically takes a maximum of 5 days to 1 week for the most standard crafts, such as bamboo chairs. This is because the crafting process is still predominantly done manually. Despite that, there are some processes that involve the use of tools, such as drilling or perforating bamboo. However, tool usage is limited to specific stages that require significant force. Nevertheless, the main crafting process as a whole remains manual, involving tasks like tying and creating the framework. It is this manual process that serves as the main attraction and selling point for the bamboo crafts of Belega Village.

Bamboo (Source : Author Collection)

For the residents of Belega Village, bamboo craftsmen are one of their livelihoods. In Balinese terms, bamboo craftsmen are referred to as "payuk jakan," meaning the source of life for the people of Belega Village. This emphasizes that all residents of Belega Village indeed have the ability to transform bamboo into crafts. Considering that crafting bamboo products is a means of livelihood in Belega Village, it's not surprising that all residents consider making bamboo crafts as a fundamental skill that everyone can master.

Crafts produced by bamboo craftsmen in Belega Village come in various types. The available crafts include bamboo chairs, beds, wardrobes, drink tables, and even swimming pool dividers. The offered prices vary depending on the type of bamboo craft, ranging from the most standard price of Rp300,000.00 to relatively high prices, up to Rp9,000,000.00. Additionally, there is a type of bamboo craft that is currently popular and in high demand, especially among villas and restaurants, which is bamboo houses. Belega Village is renowned as the primary supplier of bamboo furniture for villas and hotels in the Bali region. Moreover, the bamboo crafts from this village are frequently exported abroad.

Belega Village holds a uniquely captivating charm. It is already renowned as a central hub for bamboo crafts, a distinction passed down through generations from their ancestors. Belega Village highly values the cultural heritage inherited from its forebears. The art of crafting bamboo is consistently preserved through generations, becoming a fundamental skill that the local residents can carry out with pride and proficiency in this village. 

The uniqueness of Belega Village makes it one of the attractive tourist destinations to visit. How could it not be, the strong presence of art and culture passed down from ancestors to the youngest generation is a distinctive characteristic of this village. In addition to being a central area for trading bamboo crafts, tourists can also participate in witnessing how the process of crafting bamboo products takes place. There are many reasons for tourists to visit this village, one of them being the art of transforming bamboo into authentic bamboo crafts from Belega Village in Gianyar Regency.