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Back to Home Page Features May 14, 2000
Natural dyes and colors enrich Pekalongan Batik
By Rita A.Widiadana
JAKARTA (JP): Dudung Ali Syahbana, a batik maker from Pekalongan in
Central Java's coastal area, smiled happily when a large number of
guests admired and bought dozens of his exquisite hand-drawn silk and
cotton batiks.
Dudung's new and innovative batik pieces, displayed at the Indonesian
Culture Development Foundation's office in Kebayoran Baru, South
Jakarta last week, attracted attention from both local and foreign
batik and traditional textile lovers.
His batik pieces, priced between Rp 500,000 and Rp 2 million per
piece, included experimental and contemporary Pekalongan batik styles.
Unlike traditional Pekalongan batik, known for its bold, colorful and
non-geometric designs, Dudung's creations are the combination of
natural, pastel colors and a scintillating modification of batik
motifs from Central Java's batik centers.
"I experimented with natural dyes and colors using roots, plants,
fruits, stems and other materials from our backyards," explained
Dudung after his lecture.
Natural dyeing and coloring was practiced for centuries in the
production of batik and other traditional textiles in Indonesia before
synthetic and chemical dyes were introduced in the early 19th century.
Natural dyes, also called vegetable dyes, are coloring agents from
plants which are extracted by fermentation. There are more than 150
kinds of dye producing plants in Indonesia that provide multifarious
colors for cotton, silk and wool.
Certain colors can be obtained from plants such as blue from
indigofera, red from morinda citrifolia, yellow from maclura
cochinchinensis, brown from ceriops tagel, and black from casia
fistula.
Dudung's most recent creations include long cloths that were dyed
using mango leaves.
"The dyeing and coloring technique is time consuming. We have to
process it over at least three-days," Dudung said.
The result was marvelous. The long silk batik cloth and shawls have
shades of green and brown colors with tunjung flower motif drawn
vertically, a rare Pekalongan batik style.
"I prefer to use natural colors like green, brown, black, and maroon
instead of the usual bright colors used in Pekalongan batik," Dudung
said.
He also modified some of the traditional patterns such as truntum
motif, usually worn by parents of Javanese brides and grooms, in silk
fabrics.
Dudung said the current trend in batik is natural colors and natural
dyeing. "The global textile market demands 'a back-to-nature'
technique," he said. Even in some European countries, chemical dyes in
textiles are prohibited, he added.
"If we want to survive and to penetrate overseas markets, we have to
follow the present trend in technique and design," said Dudung, one of
the renowned batik artists in Pekalongan.
After Surakarta and Yogyakarta, Pekalongan is known as one of the
country's most prolific batik producers.
Located on the north coast of Java, Pekalongan currently has 26 batik
centers employing almost 12,000 artisans out of 500,000 residents.
The city's batik productions reach almost 1 million pieces of batik a
year with sales of long cloths, shirts, tablecloths, bedspreads and
other interior items generating annual revenues approaching Rp 165
billion.
Pekalongan batik is popularly called batik pesisir, batik produced in
coastal areas of Java.
The designs and colors of Pekalongan batik, developed since the middle
of 19th century, are innovative and intriguing when compared to the
classical styles of Surakarta and Yogyakarta batiks.
"During the Dutch colonial period, Pekalongan was a commercial center
in Java where traders from European countries, China, India and Arabia
mingled in robust business activities," said Suwati Kartiwa,
chairperson of the foundation.
Foreign influences are vividly seen in various art forms including
architecture and batik designs.
Pekalongan batik is been a blend of Indonesian, Chinese, Arabic and
European influences.
At that time, batik was widely produced in the Kauman (Islamic
village), home to many devout Moslems who were also successful
traders.
Batik was also manufactured by a number of Dutch ladies and Chinese
businessmen who lived in Pekalongan.
One of the ladies, Mrs. Eliza Van Zuylen, also developed dyeing
techniques, producing and printing batik fabrics using motifs taken
from European fruits, flowers and plants. The style of these Dutch
batiks were called batik buketan.
In a number of kain panjang, long cloth, there are European flowers
like Chrysanthemum, birds and butterflies.
The palette of Pekalongan batik varied in designs and colors ranging
from yellow, pink, red to traditional blues and European-Chinese
inspired soft pastels.
These Dutch batik makers were responsible not only for the
introduction of new color combinations but also for the changes in the
basic layout of batik long cloths and sarongs. They were also the
first persons to sign their names on their batik designs.
Chinese influence on Pekalongan batik are also evident. The Chinese
were the first to use chemical dyes in the batik process. They
produced batik cap (printing). The colors of Chinese style batiks were
light blues, pinks and bright reds and blues which were very different
from the traditional batik colors of Surakarta and Yogyakarta.
Encouraging
Suwati said it is encouraging to see local batik artists and producers
using natural dyeing processes in creating their works.
Suwati, however, warned the artists and manufacturers to be more
protective of their rights.
"Currently, many Indonesian textile designs are fully or partly taken
up by foreign designers and so far, we do not have any legal basis to
protect our textile designs," said Suwati.
The foundation and a number of related agencies including the
directorate general for copyrights have plans to discuss this matter
and possible threats concerning Indonesian traditional and
contemporary textile designs. Dudung, however, said he would not mind
if local artists copied his works. "It can encourage me to experiment
with other styles and techniques and to explore new materials," said
Dudung.
But, he said, it would be proper for foreign designers to have his
permission before fully or partly adopting his designs.
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