Shopping in Makassar

Definitely spend time here browsing the Makassar shops for local handicrafts that can make some wonderful souvenirs. Our Makassar shopping guide below will help you here. For more shopping information on the country also take a look at our Indonesia shopping guide. Visit the Makassar restaurants guide to see what delicious food and cuisine is on the menu.

Makassar Shopping Guide

Most places in Sulawesi have its own unique traditional arts and crafts and almost everything is hand made, usually from materials like metal, wood, bamboo and fabric. Some of the items which are most popular with visitors are the wonderfully crafted wooden ships, intricately designed Ikat fabrics from Galumpang and rattan rice baskets of Toraja. Makassar's street of gold is a wonderful place to shop for traditional jewellery, especially earrings.

Jalan Sombu Opu

Jalan Sombu Opu is another great place for shopping in Makassar and has everything one could conceivably think of. Located towards the south of Fort Rotterdam and near the waterfront, this street is full of Makassar shops selling all kinds of goodies. Anything from traditional art works, woodcarvings, seashells, clove artefact's, Buginese and Torajan sarongs, gold and silver jewellery, brass and copper works, and even Torajan crafts are available here.

Refined silk

For centuries the women of south Sulawesi have engaged in and have acquired a big reputation making wonderful silk fabrics and clothes. Though Sopeng is now the major silk centre, South Sulawesi still produces some excellent silk fabrics. The work is traditionally done by women from home and making such refined fabrics involves a lot of painstaking labour as it is a complicated process.

Some of the stuff made here, particularly those made by Buginese and Mandarese, were so special and valuable that they were used only by the nobility. Even now, silk sarongs are looked upon by the Indonesian society as a sign of prosperity and wealth and are usually worn only on special occasions.

Wealthy Ikats

A precise and complicated weaving technique is used to make Ikat fabrics. Ikat means "to tie". Here the yarn is tie-dyed or resist dyed so that a pattern is already there on the yarn before it is woven into a fabric and it takes a lot of precision and skill.

In Indonesia, cotton Ikat fabrics were used not so much for clothing but during funeral rites and as ceremonial carpets. Nowadays, because of the high prices they fetch, local people are selling exquisite Ikat fabrics in their possession including some of which are family heirlooms. Ikat fabrics can be found at shops in Makassar and Rantepao.

Metal

Indonesia has an excellent tradition in metal craftsmanship be it in gold, silver, iron or copper. Metals also have a place in traditional Indonesian rituals and are associated with men much the same way as fabrics are with women. In many places like Tana Toraja, craftsmen still use traditional bellows and tools to produce some exquisite stuff.

Ornamental boxes, fine pieces of jewellery especially bracelets, earrings and hairpins made of gold and silver are available at many shops in Makassar. Amulets and little statues made of copper are traditionally made at Makassar and make excellent souvenirs and gifts.

Bamboo and Shopping baskets

Bamboo and other natural materials have traditionally been used by Indonesians especially in villages, to make a lot of handy products. They are not just eco-friendly but beautiful and can serve many useful purposes. Shopping baskets, decorative baskets in umpteen designs and shapes, traditional cone shaped hats used for years by Toraja women are all popular with tourists and locals alike. Though available all over Indonesia, some of the best varieties can be got only from Tana Toraja. They make excellent gifts and are quite cheap.