Handicraft among the indigenous people of Sabah originates in their efforts to shelter, clothe and feed themselves in the best way they can. They produce a wide range of items which are mainly for functional rather than for decorative use. These include household and domestic items and implements, farming and hunting equipment as well as ritual and ceremonial objects. Their handcrafts are traditionally influenced by both environmental resources and culturally determined needs.

Variety

There is wide variation between the crafts produced by peoples of different cultures in the various districts. Coastal peoples relying on sea fishing, for example, have created different implements from those of the interior groups which practise hill or wet rice cultivation and forest hunting with river fishing. Differences also exist between the material cultures of peoples utilising wet rice and those cultivating hill rice. The differences apply not only to utilitarian implements, but also to ritual objects, musical instruments and other features of material culture.

Materials

The availability of local materials also influence the nature of handcrafts. In the Tambunan District, for example, the use of bamboo for making utensil, baskets, houses (including roofing) and fencing is widespread amongst the Tambunan Dusun/Kadazan. Similarly, the location of bitter gourd produced in Tambunan has helped to establish this place as a centre for the production of sompoton, mouth organs which are traded throughout other Dusunic groups, although these intruments are sometimes made in other places. Rattan is another durable material widely used by interior peoples with access to forest resources for making hats, baskets, decorative wall hangings and for binding wood or bamboo pieces together. Material for traditional clothing are also derived from local plants, and include bark, cotton, or fibres derived from pinapple, banana or coconut plants.

Types

Men and women traditionally make different types of handcrafts. In the interior, women are largely responsible for hat making, mat and cloth weaving, embroidery, the manufacture of small baskets, winnowing trays and other articles which they use in their daily lives; while men make larger baskets, parang, ploughing and hunting implements, nets and other fishing articles, and weapons. Amongst coastal fishing communities, men construct boats, carve wood, and prepare fishing devices, while women weave and embroider cloth, weave sleeping mats and others.

Tradewares

Formerly, articles were created mainly for domestic usage and their basic designs reflected their functional purpose. Surplus items were sometimes traded at market gatherings for other commodities. In this way, imported tradeware such as jars, beads, brassware, brass or bronze gongs, and handcrafts produced by coastal peoples, found their way from the coasts into the interior of the island of Borneo.

With increasing access to the outside world, scarce materials are sometime substituted by cheaper imported items in the production of traditional articles. Thus, rare glass beads have largely been replaced by cheaper plastic beads in producing local beadswork and costume decoration. Inexpensive imported cotton threads are now used in embroidery and weaving. Imported cotton cloth and nylon-backed black velvet have virtually replaced traditionally made cloths in costume manufacture.

Basketry

One of the most widely practised handcraft in Sabah is basketry as these items are used by nearly all ethnic groups. The styles and types of baskets vary according to their function and to the tradition of the people who make them.

The vast array of artifacts have now been adapted and manufactured for tourist souvenirs although some of these articles still maintain their original shape and style.