Elementary school dropout becomes batik master

By Rita A. Widiadana

JAKARTA (JP): Josephine Komara, popularly known as Obin, never dreamed of running a flourishing business in batik and the traditional textile world.

Born and raised for the most part of her youth in the Chinatown area on Jl. Kopi, Central Jakarta, Obin, the youngest of three children, used to help out at her parents' business which left little time for a formal education.

Behind her establishment of Bin House in the elite Menteng area, which has become one of the most sought after places in town for batik and indigenous textile lovers, is an interesting story.

Every day, she receives guests and clients from around the world. It was her great passion for traditional Indonesian textiles that brought this woman to her present stature.

"I have always adored and admired the beautiful and delicate batik, tenun (woven cloth) and other traditional fabrics," said the outspoken woman.

At first she fell in love with old classical batik collections belonging to her ex-husband, a skilled art and antique trader.

Obin treated the rare collections with great care and admiration for their designs, craftsmanship and more importantly for the people who produced such splendid art works.

The beauty of batik lies in its elaborate process of production. It is a tribute to the patience, ingenuity and craftsmanship of the artisans.

Indonesia possesses very rich and intricate textile designs, she said. There are thousands of batik patterns and varieties of artistic woven materials which vary from region to region.

People always want to keep up with technological progress, but only a very few people care about preserving a centuries-old legacy like batik art, she said.

"We should learn from the Japanese who master technological know-how while at the same time painstakingly protecting their cultural heritages," asserted Obin, who hasn't stopped smoking since we began talking.

In l985, Obin was a young mother of two needing to start a new life after divorcing her first husband. She didn't have any money but with courage and her mind brimming with thousands of ideas she faced her uncertain future head on.

"I went through a rocky marriage. For the sake of my two children and myself, I asked him for a divorce," Obin said, recalling her troubled marital years.

It was a really difficult 13 years, but she said she had to keep up the fight. As a single mother, Obin found the business world full of stiff competition and intrigue.

"I felt sad to know that many of my friends avoided me. They were afraid that I would sneer at their husbands," she laughed.

In business, she had to face discrimination and harassment.

"I was shocked to find that many respected people, male ones in particular, always would regard women as sexual objects," she said.

Sometime in l985, she went to a bank where one of her close friends was a director. To realize her ideas of producing fine batik, she needed to take out loans.

"He was so impressed with my proposal that he promised to provide the loan. But before I left his office, he asked me whether I could have dinner with him just because I was a woman and a divorcee," Obin recalled.

Some influential businessmen and officials were impudent enough to send her their hotel room keys. "These were very disgusting experiences to go through in my life that I and probably a lot of other women have to endure with people of such a mentality. They think that women have no brains or power," she said.

Obin was not discouraged and found a way to prove herself. Instead of complaining, she pushed herself to work extremely hard in achieving her dream.

"It was a blessing in disguise not to have money and friends around me at that time. It made me tougher and more creative," she remembered.

Obin viewed those years as the "seclusion period", a time for self-contemplation, learning and working. "Finally, I realized that we could rely only on God and ourselves to change our fate. I was so sure that He would show me a way if I believed in His immense power," said Obin, a devout Buddhist.

During this period, Obin traveled around the country to learn more about traditional textiles, especially Batik. She met and shared knowledge with accomplished batik and traditional textile artists like Harjonegoro from Surakarta, Mundardjito, Buchari and Ibu Geloh.

Through numerous ancient books and manuscripts, she uncovered a wide range of little known information for producing high quality batik from coloring and dyeing techniques, motifs, patterns and more importantly the historical, cultural backgrounds and philosophical ideas of each batik pattern.

"To me, a piece of batik or other traditional fabric has magnetic power which mesmerizes people who understand the meaning of each pattern and design," Obin explained.

Luckily enough, Obin had a team of experts to consult that were resourceful, creative and innovative. Among the team's members were Ronny Siswandi, an archaeologist and a lecturer at the University of Indonesia.

"Ronny has widened my horizons and honed my intellectual potency," commented Obin about her present husband and business partner.

The couple and the team passionately experimented with various techniques for producing superb batik and woven clothes made of nontraditional material like silk, cotton, nylon and others. They collaborated with batik and textile makers particularly in Central Java.

Their hard work soon bore fruit. People started to notice Obin's talent and her distinguished creations. They established Bin House and expanded their businesses in Jakarta and Bali while exporting to several fashion centers including Singapore, Japan and the United States.

"Since the beginning, I always wanted to penetrate the international market, especially Japan. The Japanese highly appreciate delicate works of art like batik," maintained Obin, who runs two exclusive boutiques in Tokyo and Nagoya.

She believes the success was achieved by solid teamwork. "It is the accomplishment of 2,000 batik makers who hand in hand helped build this handcrafted industry," she added.

Despite the economic crisis, their business remains solvent. Obin plans to open new branches in several other cities.

"This kind of business is very sustainable because it involves mostly domestic material resources, skillful people, and most importantly an established and secure market line," explained Obin, who is also a bookworm.

She went on to say that in doing business, interpersonal skills are definitely needed. "I always treat my 2,000 partners as my own family. People, whoever they are, must be treated with dignity. I am so grateful to work with them for so many years," she noted.

Most of the 2,000 batik artisans are rural girls, housewives and school dropouts who hardly have any formal education but who possess extraordinary skills as batik and traditional textile artisans.

"Indonesians tend to look down on people who don't have degrees or formal education. They think that all of these people are dumb," said Obin, who did not finish elementary school.

But people forget that many of these uneducated groups have high interpersonal skills and a sense of entrepreneurship in their fields.

She believes in life-long education. The learning process occurs not only in classrooms. People can acquire all necessary knowledge from various sources, books, community and personal experiences, Obin asserted.

One of her goals is to provide informal learning centers for rural children. "I plan to set up a library for children in Seminyak, Kuta, Bali, and hope to build others in several villages," added Obin.

Obin concluded that ideally, all Indonesians should receive quality education. For those who do not have the chance to pursue a formal education but are competent and talented in other ways also deserve an equal place in the country's business and employment world.