Rojak #92: Craft, Copy, and the Cost of Secrets

The monthly mix of stories that didn't make it to the main newsletter - but are still intersting anyway

Welcome to this edition of the Rojak - a collection of stories that I curate over the month, stories that aren’t strictly about Southeast Asian archaeology, but can be if you tilt your head and look at them at a certain angle. This month, we go from ancient cave shelters to the quiet whirr of AI bots, from forged warriors to fragile batik threatened by cheap lookalikes — and see how Southeast Asia’s heritage is a living fabric, stitched by many hands and tested by clever imitators.

We meet cunning forgers who fooled museums for decades, AI-powered masks that ‘heal’ paintings without a brushstroke, bots that sneak through digital archives uninvited — and artisans fighting to keep real craft alive in a world of fast fakes. And in the middle of it all, a wax-resist cloth reminds us: making something beautiful takes care, patience, and respect for what lies beneath.

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