Bilum (Loop String Bag)
Loop-woven string bag made and worn by women across Papua New Guinea, worked in a continuous spiral of knotless looping that varies in gauge and pattern from region to region. Carried on the head, over the shoulder or around the neck, it holds garden produce, firewood and bush tucker, and in the Highlands it cradles infants, who travel in a woman's bilum until they can walk. Made originally from bush vines and bark fibre and today often from brightly coloured synthetic yarn, a single bilum can take weeks of work and carries meaning in every stitch. Bilums are given as prestigious gifts at marr