THE embassy of Indonesia has brought two well-known Indonesian craftswomen to Namibia to present a workshop on wire jewellery technique to 32 Namibian women.

The women are from organisations like Penduka, Oewona, Unam and NamCrafts.

“The objective of this workshop is to exchange jewellery-making knowledge and to provide opportunities to those who wish to develop their own jewellery-making technique and use it as a means of making a business. In other words, wire jewellery can serve as a tool of self-empowerment,” said Asti Ferreira of the embassy.

Lucita Rembeth, one of the experts, became interested in wire jewellery five years ago when she got bored with her job and was looking for new and exciting opportunities.

“I stated to make the jewellery and fell in love with it and I started to make more and more and now I travel not only in Indonesia but around the world to give workshops,” said Rembeth.

Three years ago she and fellow designer Heri Rusmiyati published a book on basic wire jewellery techniques. Next year the two plan to publish another book on intermediate and advanced techniques of wedding jewellery making and copper-wire art.

In Indonesia this technique is well known for making belts that form a tangled chain which complements traditional dresses for formal ceremonies such as weddings.

They also own a shop in Indonesia from where they sell jewellery that they design and make themselves.

“Although we do sell a bit from our shop, most of our clients order from the internet and we sell to all over the world.”