By Nur Ashikin Louis
KUCHING, May 23: Sarawak Young Designers’ (SayD’SignersSarawak) second and third batch of 15 graduates are guaranteed to have placements in furniture companies upon finishing their training at Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) Indonesia.
Sarawak Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan said by the end of their training, the designers will have their products, which resulted from their collaboration with ITB, commercialised by the furniture companies.
“Several companies have agreed to manufacture the products according to the designs of our young designers.
“We aim to have these products highlighted in the international market and, at the same time, promoted in furniture and design fairs in Italy and other places,” he said after receiving a courtesy call by the ITB team led by Dr Imam Santosa, current manager of SayD’SignersSarawak training programme at the Sarawak Legislative Assembly (DUN) Complex today.
SayD’SignersSarawak is a two-year training programme developed by Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corporation (STIDC) in 2017 for fresh graduates from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas), with the first intake of six trainees in 2018.
The first batch of participants completed their training in 2020 and are now employed by furniture companies in Sarawak.
Awang Tengah said such a programme is developed in line with STIDC’s vision to transform the timber industry where Sarawak owns various timber resources from its natural and planted forests such as acacia.
“Secondly, Sarawak has its motives and arts heritage. When these elements (timber and motive) are combined, we will be able to create a unique product that can be promoted in an international market,” he added. — DayakDaily
