Carmanita putting her stamp on batik

Carmanita putting her stamp on batik

David Kennedy, Contributor, Jakarta
d_kenn@yahoo.com

It does not take long to tell that Carmanita has Bugis blood in
her. She inherited more than a love of traditional Indonesian
batik and fabric design from her late grandmother, Sulawesi-born
batik maestro Ibu Sud.

When she says she would not hesitate to sue a certain client
for breach of contract, her headstrong Bugis side shows and you
know she is not kidding. This rare combination of hard-nosed
business woman and talented artist has got Carmanita where she is
today, at the top of the Indonesian fashion industry with her
trademark batik on lycra fashion items.

"I am half business woman and half designer," she said
recently, jokingly drawing a line down the center of her face.

Although her garments are sold in Europe, Japan and Malaysia
and have appeared on Fashion TV and CNN Asia, Carmanita's
influence in the fashion world extends well beyond the catwalks.
Prestigious hotels such as the Hilton in Bali are adorned with
her fabrics and designs, as were the 1997 Southeast Asian Games
-- 16,000 uniforms worn by umpires, participants and chairmen
alike were designed and made by her company.

The 47-year-old fashion designer, born in Bandung, West Java,
was not, as one might presume, catapulted to batik stardom on the
back of her grandmother's reputation, nor did she even have any
formal training in fashion design.

After graduating with a degree in marketing and finance from
the University of San Francisco in 1981, Carmanita worked in the
treasury department of a Jakarta bank but soon realized that it
was not for her.

She found herself asking "what I am doing counting other
peoples' money", and decided to embark on a business venture of
her own selling casual sporty clothes. In true entrepreneurial
style, she calculated a return on her small initial investment
within six months of starting the company and then proudly
recouped her capital with a month to spare.

"At that time you could not get much good clothing in
Indonesia. I used a lot of cotton and materials that absorb sweat
and are suitable for a tropical country," she said.

With the help of students from ITB Bandung in West Java,
Carmanita livened up the garments with hand-block prints. Her
grandmother was often at hand to lend some friendly advice though
they differed in artistic taste.

"At that time my grandmother was very active but I wanted to
do the opposite styles to her. I preferred dark, faded colors
that look a hundred years old. She would complain and say 'what's
that?' so I had to hide from her and keep some goods out front
and some behind out of her sight!"

By 1987 Carmanita had her own label but the market was not
quite ripe for modern interpretations of batik.

"In the '80s people thought it made them look like state
employees," she recalled. Brands (popular labels) swept through
Indonesia in the 1980s. People preferred Versace to batik."

However, as Asia's influence grew in the West and European
designers began incorporating batik designs, interest in batik
grew in Indonesia but for European rather than Indonesian styles.

Lamenting the tendency to only look outwards and reject
everything traditional, Carmanita began to reinvent batik designs
by mixing traditional motifs with new ones.

Inspiration can come from anywhere. Crossing the floor of her
office she points out the detail on an old Javanese wood carving
as an example of a design that can be adapted and modified to
create something new and original. Equally, she argues, a window
frame or an animal skin can provide the basis for a pattern.

Not everyone shares her view that batik, used for the
Indonesian national dress, can be designed so freely.

"People try to say how batik has to be but it does not need to
be so rigid. There are a few hundred styles of traditional
motifs. Sure the roots come from there but there's nothing to say
that I can't mix them. Only thing is if it's too patterned then
it's dead. I like it to be free," she said.

Carmanita can speak with authority on her subject as her
grandmother pioneered brighter, more vivid colors for batik at
the behest of then president Sukarno when he complained to her
that the traditional colors were too dull.

In addition, she argues that the styles have changed through
contact with other cultures, such as Chinese traders and Japanese
invaders. Japanese-style batik has reversible patterns on either
side of the cloth.

Moving forward and exploring new innovations and techniques
are an important aspect of fashion designing and making. Just two
years before the economic crisis that struck in mid-1997,
Carmanita had an idea which she said was "like God whispering
something".

The idea was "cocooning". No, it was not related to the
lifestyle trend of staying at home to avoid the harsh realities
of life but rather to the original sense of the word --
harvesting silk from cocoons.

After a meeting with five farmers from West Java who were
interested in producing silk but needed capital to get their
business off the ground, Carmanita agreed to go into partnership
with them. Since then the farmers expanded their business and
took on other clients and more workers.

Her latest endeavor is producing silk cocoons in avocado
trees, a process which appears to result in golden thread.
Carmanita's eyes are wide with amazement as she explains this
process and it is clear that this is more than just business to
her -- it's an adventure.

Silk is just one of the many materials found in Carmanita's
modern fashion collections and she travels widely in search of
unusual fabrics. A lot of the fabrics come from India which
provides both low cost and high quality for the experienced
buyer.

In Carmanita's South Jakarta workshop, batik designers work
busily with hot wax, tracing intricate Chinese designs on fabric.
Preparations are underway for the Yayasan Batik annual show which
will take place in October in Jakarta, on the them of "Chinese
Influence".

The current economic climate does not seem to worry Carmanita
too much. Her business training and experiences of the economic
crisis over the last five years have prepared her for the worst
and she is optimistic about the opportunities for Indonesian
fashion.

"Asia is driving the global fashion industry as it has more
variety of textiles," she said. "And Indonesia still has a chance
in specialty markets as we still have a strong tradition of
handmade work."