A New Take on Batik



Somehow I was never all too keen about batik. I thought it is just a piece of fabric with blurred colours which is quite complicated to produce given the poor result. Even after I had bought on a whim of a batik summer dress in Penang, I didn't investigate further. 


                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Then I came upon an arts school in Yogyakarta dedicated to batik as a form of art. Their exhibits got me hooked. There was the volcano Mérapi among the rice paddies and the farmers working their fields. Some of Java's vulcanos are still active. They are as beautiful as they are dangerous. I witnessed the devastation caused by the latest outbreak of a vulcano near Jodjakarta. 



On the blue image people are going about their daily business on the market surrounding an elephant and passing a pagoda. These markets are no fairy tale that exists on cotton only. Hawkers bearing their merchandise on a yoke are daily features in Jogjakarta.
Masked dancers are populating a yellow cotton piece and a wonderfully soft silk fabric shows small figures wearing Chinese hats amongst the local fauna.  The manager showed us the whole process of making these imaginative pieces of handicraft.

The Batik Centre is not just a shop. Their main purpose is to preserve the cultural heritage and to create jobs.  I have had framed the dancers. The other pieces are waiting to be used. They seem too precious to me to have tailored them for cushions or scarfs.     













Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

About

Image
Chic is a kind of mayonnaise, either it tastes, or it doesn’t. Karl Lagerfeld I am a seventy something world traveller and my dress code is all about context and mood. Where do I happen to be today? How do I feel this morning? Eclectic is my key word. Combine a high-end item with streetwear and you will look fabulous. The other key word is travel. During the last twelve years I have been staying on three continents and writing travel books . Since then I am living in AND: in France AND South Africa AND Germany. My fashion finds around the world define my style. Thus, my mayonnaise is sometimes plainly homemade, sometimes peppered with exotic spices. I got my inspiration from a rabbit and from a New York based aficionado of silver hair chic. An eternally youthful bunny may not be an obvious role model for a silver surfer, but  Fifi Lapin ’s playful sketches and funny notes on the ever so urgent question  What shall I wear today?  did the trick for me. Thank you, Fifi! And than
Read more

Finis Terrae

Image
I didn't discover the end of the world, yet. I only came to Tierra del Fuego , the Land of Fire, which is indeed a sort of Finis Terrae. The Argentinians call it Fin del Mundo . There, I had the privilege to talk with the American lady scientist Natalie Prosser Goodall, who discovered and assembled the most intriguing collection of Arctic sea mammals further to be read about in my travel book Woanders / Somewhere else (for details see www.edithwerner.com ). Some 40 years ago Natalie came to this wild country on a short stint as a student, met a local sheep farmer and stayed. In the town Ushuia the last forepost of civilisation, I met a lady artist who is a descendant of the first inhabitants, the. Yaghan . They were living on their boats and the fires they entertained on their swimming homes inspired the name Tierra del Fuego. For one year I shared with you, dear reader, the endless variety of womens' adornements I discovered  on my travels. Thank you for having
Read more

South African-French Christmas

Image
For Christmas dinner I am filling up my supply on red wine from the Cape at my favoured wine estate Groot Phesantekraal . Once the owner asked me about purchasing sources for a gobelin from France. Meanwhile, she has acquired the beautiful wall carpet you can see behind me at their wine tasting room. I can only admire the masterful embroidery in the traditional French style. © John Penny The carpet is forming a bridge to my other home in the South West of France. There, in a tiny neighbouring village our friends have just to look out of their kitchen window to enjoy this artwork in stained glass at the village church. In winter deer is sometimes to be seen in some solitary garden just as in the gobelin. The elegant European buck seems to me close to the South African antelopes.  © theodysseyonline.com I admit to fancy English Christmas canes like a child. That's why the jumpsuit with the candy stripes was an obvious choice for wine shopping on a hot pre-Christ
Read more