Experiment On Abaca Fiber And Its Implementation In Product Making

摘要

Abaca falls under the same family with a banana plant called Musaceae. In Philippine, abaca fiber is widely used as raw material for fabric and footwear. Meanwhile, abaca plant mainly found in Sabah, Malaysia and it grows without awareness of people. Due to this situation, a research taken by exploring and developing the possibility of the abaca fiber into something that useful and benefits. By using handmade papermaking method and product design approach, the abaca fiber will then be processed into paper and its texture and translucency will be analyzed. After that, a selected paper will be developed into a lampshade and a prototype will be made as the final product and named as II. The characteristic of II is inspired from the Senbon Torii in Fushimi Inari Taisha, Kyoto, Japan. It is a floor and table lamp with structure or body made from wooden. The effect of the lampshade is to create a relaxing and romantic ambiance in a room. The outcome of this research proving that abaca fiber has potential in contributing economic development for local people in Sabah, Malaysia.