A Meet Up with the Borneo Bead Enthusiast

A Meet Up with the Borneo Bead Enthusiast!

I had an amazing opportunity to meet another self-taught artist from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. She is Eleanor Goroh and she is from the native Dusun. She has the same interest on beads just like me. It was an opportunity not to be missed for me. She was at a ‘Merata Suara’ exhibition with 4 other artists.

Ely has the same view with me that beads are not merely an accessory item. She got to know from her grandmother and from many other heritage stories that beads has many connections with tribes and culture. Ely said that the most common beads used in her village was the roots and seed. I was so happy to connect with Ely as she also believes that the beads carry energy and in Borneo, beads are associated with spiritual beliefs, power, wealth and cultural status.

To my view, beads are connected to spiritual activities hence it has amazing vibration or energy only waiting for us to recognize it. For example, almost all religion uses beads for praying purposes. Japa mala is a 108 prayer bead used by the Buddhist and Hindu’s. It is used during meditation and chanting a mantra. In Islam, the beads are referred to as Misbaha or Tasbih. They usually have 33 or 99 beads in a string. The Christian’s prayer bead has a count of 150. These prayer beads are normally decorated with a ‘tassel’.

Ely conducted a brief beading workshop with beads she collected from various part of the world. Although I know how to string beads, I wanted to see if I can learn something new and yes, I learnt something new and exciting! What was extra special about her use of beads was she creates beads using fabric. The fabric is cut into triangles and rolled up to form a bead. A sealant spray is used to harden up the rolled fabric.

This picture shows the fabric bead being made a lovely looking curtain!

This was an eye-opener for me as Malaysia is so rich in culture that we have amazing vibrant colours in our traditional clothing. I can already imagine these lovely colours on our necklines!

Beading workshop by Eleanor!