Tenganan Village: Bali’s Best textiles

Bali is renowned world-wide for its unique and intricate textiles. The Balinese women are considered to be the guardians of the secret knowledge of textiles, and like the ingredients for certain dyes and a rich compendium of sacred motifs. Bali’s rarest textile can be found in the village of Tenganan, known for its sophisticated weavings.

The Geringsing of Tenganan are produced by what is known as the double ikat method, a technique in which resist patterns are applied to both warp and weft threads before weaving, so that the final pattern appears only on completion. The most striking feature of all Geringsing is their muted colouring – combining red and reddish-brown tones, eggshell and dark blue or black violet.

Double Ikat is a technique in which both warp and the weft are dyed with a specific pattern prior to stringing on the loom. This extremely demanding and time-consuming process requires a lot of skill and employs skilled craftsmen only.

Tenganan Pegringsingan is a Village that is located in the eastern part of Bali. Even among the highly spiritual villages in Bali, Tenganan Pegringsingan is still considered as a very unique and secluded one. In fact, this Village is one of the few Aga villages in Bali.

If you come to the traditional village of Tenganan Pegringsingan, you will find traditional houses that are not even influenced by Melanesian architecture. Most traditional houses here have a small door, palm roof, and wooden floor.

Tenganan Village, administratively, is included in the Manggis District area, Karangasem Regency. This village is about 70 km from Ngurah Rai airport. This village can be accessed easily from all regions in Bali as the road infrastructure is good.