As technology transforms how we live, work, and connect, an important question remains: How do we ensure that traditional knowledge, craftsmanship, and cultural heritage are not lost? 

Through stories and examples from China, Korea, Indonesia, and New Guinea, conservators, Minsun Hwang, Absari Hanifah, Chris Buckley, and Sandra Sardjono will share how they collaborate with artisans, communities, and cultural institutions to safeguard traditions, preserve remarkable objects and textiles, and pass knowledge from one generation to the next.  

A panel discussion and audience Q & A session will follow the four presentations. Join us to learn directly from our illustrious panelists about their conservation practices, techniques, and commitment to international collaboration.  

Minsun Hwang (ACC 2012) 

Minsun Hwang has worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art since 2002, where she is responsible for the care and study of Chinese textiles and costumes, as well as Korean textiles in the Met’s collection. She earned an M.A. in Museum Studies with a specialization in Costume and Textile Conservation from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. Her research focus is on the production of hemp, ramie, and silk in China, Korea, and Japan, work that has been supported by several grants including ACC (Nobuko Kajitani Fellowship recipient).  

Absari Hanifah (ACC 2026) 

Absari Hanifah is a conservator specializing in cultural heritage and museum collections, with expertise in the preservation of textiles and other organic materials. She holds an M.A. in Biology from Universitas Indonesia. With over eight years of experience, she has worked across museums, cultural heritage institutions, and research initiatives in Indonesia, contributing to conservation practice, consulting, education, and scholarship. 

Her work explores sustainable conservation materials, natural-based preservation methods, and the use of scientific approaches to care for cultural heritage collections. In addition to her work as a conservation consultant, she teaches art conservation, particularly textile conservation, and actively participates in professional and research networks dedicated to protecting cultural heritage for future generations. 

Chris Buckley (ACC 2024) 

Chris Buckley is a researcher, anthropologist, and specialist in traditional crafts whose work explores how human culture evolves and is passed from one generation to the next. After earning a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Oxford University, he shifted his focus to the study of traditional weaving cultures across East Asia and the Pacific, where he has conducted research for more than 30 years.  

He is particularly interested in what weaving traditions can teach us about how cultural knowledge is created, experienced, and sustained over time. Buckley is the author of several books, including Tibetan Furniture (Thames & Hudson), Roots of Asian Weaving (Oxbow Books), and Stone and Fiber: Daily Life in the Baliem Valley, Papua. He is currently a researcher with the Tracing Patterns Foundation in Berkeley, where he continues to document and study textile traditions and the communities that keep them alive. 

Sandra Sardjono (ACC 2007, 2024)  

Sandra Sardjono is an art historian, textile specialist, and conservation professional whose work bridges research, preservation, and cultural heritage. She trained in textile conservation at New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts while also earning an M. A. in Art History, giving her a unique perspective that combines scholarship and hands-on conservation. 

She began her career as a textile conservator at the Cooper Hewitt Museum and later served as Assistant Curator of Costume and Textiles at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. She went on to earn a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, where her dissertation, Tracing Patterns of Textiles in Java (8th-15th Century), examined the history and movement of textile traditions in Southeast Asia. 

In 2018, she founded the Tracing Patterns Foundation, a California-based nonprofit dedicated to preserving textile heritage through research, documentation, and conservation. Through this work, she helps uncover, protect, and share the stories woven into textile traditions across generations.