Illustrations for Borneo Laboratory - A book produced by Borneo Lab on Borneo aesthetics.
I worked with Borneo Lab to illustrate this book. My illustrations were done by hand with technical pens and Indian ink, then digitally scanned.
Featured prominently in the book are traditional methods of production and historical artefacts from the different Borneo tribes, and how a collective of modern artists reinterpret tradition.
Above: A black hand-carved vase, commonly found in Sarawak. Often depicted on the vases are ethnic motifs, and the black base colour is unique to this Malaysian state.
Above: Shown is the vase-making process. The left depicts the process of lightly creating marks on the clay before carving the motifs. The right is the process of firing the clay in the kiln .
Belian timber (or billian timber) is highly prized timber that can be found in Borneo. This precious wood is only used for important artefacts. Shown above are twin hand-carved Belian pillars used to support a local tribal chief's coffin.
As seen in the book
Stylised depiction of tin ore in its raw form. I emphasised the textures and grooves of the tin ore in different planes.
Illustrated above is the process of refining tin ore. Tin is melted down from its rock form and refined into sheets for industrial usage
Traditional vest made from barkcloth. Barkcloth is harvested from trees and woven into clothes by the local Dayaks.
Quivers are hand carved from wood by the local Dayaks and used to hold blow darts.
To prepare rattan for usage, it is harvested from trees and left to dry in the sun by leaving them against pole structures. This is the front view of a rattan drying area.
The Dayaks use rattan to weave intricately patterned textiles. The patterns are highly stylised and are usually inspired by Nature.
The illustrations of rattan drying and weaving shown in the book.
