Blade in Indonesia: crafter turns to YouTube to keep kris-making tradition alive
- Mangmong Lembu Bara, who makes traditional daggers, is using social media to help preserve an artisanal skill recognised by Unesco
- The craft faces death by a thousand cuts, including from rising costs, shrinking market and the passing of great smiths
It was eight years ago that Mangmong Lembu Bara raised eyebrows among a community of master craftsman by using YouTube and unsheathing the secrets of making the kris – Indonesia’s traditional dagger, and quietly keeping alive an artisanal skill recognised by Unesco.
But the art of making the foot-long, wavy blades which are finished with a unique marbling effect and by lore carry mystical powers, faces death by a thousand cuts; rising costs, shrinking market and the passing of great smiths.
So Bara says the modern world of social media is needed to provide opportunities for a new generation of kris smiths like himself. He has been able to score overseas customers, including a Kabbalah practitioner in Israel seeking a ceremonial knife, after they viewed his handiwork on YouTube and Instagram.
“Quite a few of the older generation of kris-makers were taken aback when I told them I regularly upload videos showing my forging techniques,” he said.
Old-school kris-makers, he pointed out, were conditioned to keeping their trade secrets closely-guarded from outsiders.
I want to document how I work for posterity
Bara said he had witnessed many examples whereby kris-making techniques had died with master smiths who refused to pass on their know-how to the next generation.