Mr. George Pansiol of Magic Shutter Photography

Let’s see who I can feature today as our Borneo friend….. 

 

 Let me introduce to you Mr. George Pansiol or fondly known as “Angkol George”. He is the official photographer for Borneo Hornbill Festival 2014 under the team called Magic Shutter. Magic Shutter is the collaboration between two brothers and a friend Desmond Pansiol and Harrisson. Mr. George hailing from Membakut Sabah is a Dusun Kuijau, one of the rare ethnics in Sabah.

Now back to photography….Mr.George has been doing photography for 5 years now and mainly cover wedding photography. He gets his inspiration from National Geographic because it features natural photos in minimalistic amount of editing. Here are some of his works together with Magic Shutter for you to see. 

Mr. George aspires Magic Shutter to be the Photographers of Peoples’ choice whereby good photography does not necessary burns a hole in your pocket. 

So there you have it…Mr. George Pansiol of Magic Shutter…interested? Do visit their Facebook page or website :Magic Shutter Photography

Borneo Hornbill Festival 2014 - Miss Sarawak Ethnic (Iban Category)

And so, Borneo Hornbill Festival closed its curtain for 2014 and the winner of Iban category has also been crowned. This year's winner was Ms. Nathalie Dinggai, an English teacher from Kapit, Sarawak. Beautiful and graceful in her own way, she managed to wow the jury with her confidence in public speaking apart from a good command in culture knowledge.  

 

 

Donning the heavy beaded Iban Batang Rajang ngepan with confidence, she managed to smile all the way throughout the competition. I was awed with her costume because she indeed "owned" the "look" and not the ngepan wearing her mostly because of her height and slim stature.

 

 

Nathalie in her ngepan Iban Batang Rajang

In her pua kumbu dress designed by her own

Top 3

Nathalie was top three in the finale of the Ms & Mr. Borneo Hornbill and I am very proud of her because she managed to keep the crowd amused with her jovial way of answering the finale question on tuak. 

In essence, Borneo Hornbill Festival is not only about the perfect costume because there is none. We are diverse in culture, geographically, economy and most importantly history, we revolved and evolved and keep evolving within the vast community of Borneo...

Borneo Hornbill Festival is about embracing one's culture to celebrate our differences and not to quarrel on who is the best. We are one, We are Borneo, We must stay united in order to achieve harmonious Borneo...

Dearest Alumni and all, always remember that no matter where you go or "bejalai" never forget our roots and be proud of it...Like what I always keep in my heart: "YOU CAN ALWAYS TAKE A SARAWAK GIRL OUT FROM SARAWAK BUT NEVER SARAWAK OUT OF A SARAWAK GIRL." OOOHHHHHHHAAAA......

Some of the still memories of Borneo Hornbill Festival 2014. Congratulations to all the winners, to me win or lose all of you are winners in my heart...Lots of love from me...Till then SEE YOU AT BORNEO HORNBILL FESTIVAL 2015!

Photos are from Magic Shutter & Facebook...

Iban Contemporary Ethnic Fashion

I would like to dedicate this post to my mum in conjunction of Mother's Day and her being my inspiration in fashion. 

One of my fashion idols is definitely my mother. Looking through her old photos showed me that she is indeed a person who is always on trend when it comes to fashion without being a fashion victim. 

 I love her retro style the best particularly her long dark brown hair cascading over her shoulders and myriad styles of the 70s be it maxi dresses, bell bottom jeans, platform heels and big sunglasses with minimal or no make up at all. 

 

Whenever I see her old photos it gives me the inspiration to be be unique and individual in fashion and my particular favourite is Iban contemporary ethnic particularly from the Pua Kumbu be it it's fabric or the motif.

My very young mum

In our ngepan Iban

The love story began when I saw my mother more a sleeveless jacket and skirt made of an authentic pua kumbu as an usherette at an event in Sarawak and that was from a photo in the 70s. 

Mum's Pua Kumbu Jacket

When I was small I loved the jacket so much that I always wanted wear it but mum would not allow me as it was too big for me. As a result she made me my own pua kumbu jacket and skirt by using a pua kumbu motif fabric. See how young I was exposed to traditional motif fashion? Thank you Mummy!

I do not have my mother's photo of her wearing the jacket as it is not with me at the moment. However, because of this old jacket and the "mini" version of it inspired me to showcase Iban contemporary ethnic fashion in whatever events I attended. I wish I can be a good tailor as at the moment I can only design and send my designs to the tailor.

Here as some of my Iban contemporary ethnic looks that I have styled before. 

To a pre-Gawai dinner in 2014

Borneo Hornbill Festival 2013

At a friend's wedding

Same skirt in different style

At a book review session where I presented Sarawak related book review in MITI

My engagement in 2011

 

My first try in sewing a Pua Kumbu skirt which definitely needs a lot of improvement

My BHF photoshoot

My brother's convocation

Trying out some different looks for marek empang

I am so happy that now more and more designers are inspired to bring back the ethnic look and their effort should be commended. I hope to see more Sarawakian designers showcase more ethnic fashion not only for the runway but also easy to wear styles. 

Before I end my post for the day, I would like to give a shout out to all the mothers out there, Thank you for being the inspiration to your children particularly your daughters as my mother did and HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!