Name: Mahri

Location: Tanjungsiang District, Subang Regency

Specialist materials: Copper

Products: Copperware

The rice cooker or cormorant in Sundanese land is known as Seeng. Seeng craftsmen can be found in Subang, precisely in Tanjungsiang, in that area, there is a village where almost 40% of the population is active as seeng craftsmen. Pak Mahri, one of the craftsmen who has been working on this craft product for a long time, said that his skill to make Seeng is inherited from his ancestors. Before settling in Tanjungsiang, the craftsmen originally came from Cileunyi, then massively moved to Tanjungsiang. Skills brought from their Cileunyi-natives were eventually passed on to the people of Tanjungsiang to the next generations.

In the past, the primary raw material for making Seeng was copper, but because copper eventually leaves an odor, the primary raw material is changed to aluminum. The process of making Seeng starts from making a pattern on the plate material with a 25 - 100 cm diameter. Later, the material is bent and beaten and then combined with other materials to become a whole Seeng. Lastly, the step is to create patterns on the body of Seeng.

Usually, 5 people carry out the process of making one piece. Within three days, the craftsmen can produce 15 pieces. Pak Mahri does home production and is only assisted by his wife, and other processes in making Seeng are shared with other craftsmen near his house.

In general, Seeng buyers are people who still think that cooking rice traditionally without using an electrical device such as electric rice cooker, will produce more delicious rice. However, Pak Mahri feels that the sales of Seeng have been declining significantly since the '90s because people converted to more modern and efficient products. Lastly, one thing that concerned Pak Mahri so much is that Seeng craft will become extinct one day because nowadays, the willingness to become a Seeng craftsman among the younger generation has gradually disappeared.