Palembang, too, has beautiful batik

By Lila Fitri Aly

JAKARTA (JP): We know all about batik from Yogyakarta, Surakarta (Solo), Pekalongan or other cities of Central Java. But Palembang batik?

In fact, batik production is found not only in Java, but also other areas of the country such as Palembang and Bali. Various kinds of batik were recently on display in a batik exhibition held at the Ministry of Industry and Trade building, Jakarta.

The process of hand-making batik is uniform -- by coating with wax the parts not to be dyed, but every single batik has its own characteristics. The traditional motifs of Palembang batik have very strong colors. It always contains red although only in small quantities. Most Palembang patterns have animal and floral designs.

"Those motifs are influenced by India and China. Since Islam was introduced to Palembang, the motifs have been dominantly floral," said Zainal Arifin from Zainal Batik Palembang.

He had run the business of Palembang traditional cloth, kain songket (fabric woven with silk and golden threads combined ), for 12 years before he started his batik business five years ago with Rp 1 million capital. Now his assets are valued at Rp 500 million (US$62,500). Not a single rupiah has been borrowed from the banks, he said proudly.

At the beginning, he admits to having imitated the designs of old batik motifs.

"Now, I am transferring the motifs of kain songket Palembang to my batik," Zainal added.

His Palembang batik has various motifs such as chains of stars, dragons fighting and even durians.

Zainal exports his batik in small quantities to Malaysia and Singapore. Every three months he sends between 30 and 50 pieces of batik to those countries. There is a growing demand for his batik, but Zainal is unable to increase production.

"They are handmade. Even for the local market we have to work very hard to meet the demand," he said.

An the moment, Zainal has 40 workers in his workshops in Jakarta and Palembang.

In the five-day batik exhibition, an annual event held by Yayasan Batik Indonesia, the Foundation of Indonesian Batik, Zainal displayed 300 pieces of his collection and sold 80 pieces worth Rp 50 million.

Mariana Sutandi, owner of Batik Parang Kencana, Jakarta, said that in order to survive in the competitive batik business, she always tries to introduce new creations every year.

"In designing batik, my company has to be creative, doing a lot of research and experiment to get brilliant colors that correspond to market demand," said Mariana, who is also an executive of Yayasan Batik Indonesia.

Mariana was first involved in the batik business in 1972, when she worked in a very big batik company. After 20 years she quit and founded Batik Parang Kencana in 1993.

Unlike Mariana's batik, most of the products of the Yogyakarta-based Batik Ardiyanto have pastel colors.

According to Sinta Dewayanti, its marketing manager, such colors are used "because they are easy to digest and can be accepted universally."

"If our company sticks to traditional motifs, it will be difficult to attract more buyers," said the daughter Ardiyanto Pranata, batik designer and the owner of Batik Ardiyanto.

Batik Ardiyanto, set up in the 1970s, produces ready-to-wear and batik interior elements. Batik Ardiyanto exports its products to the USA, Europe and Canada.

Another batik company from Yogyakarta which took part in the exhibition was Batik Lawas (Antique Batik).

Its owner is Boyonz Ilyas, a sculptor. He started his antique batik business 12 years ago and now has 20 employees.

He loves antiques and is particularly interested in old batik as he admires so much the older generations, who, with limited technology, could create such lovely pieces using natural materials.

Antique batik has traditional motifs and his collection was made between the 1940s and the 1960s.

Ilyas gets the batik from traders at traditional local markets or from collectors. The batik is then processed in such a way as to make it retain its original colors.

"During our economic recession, more people are selling their old batik in order to survive," said Ilyas, who exports his products to Japan and Australia.