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.