Batik Indonesia
The culture of wearing batik cloth in Java, was born from the palace environment which 'completes' it with a philosophy of life: a blend of matra, art, customs, outlook on life, and personality. In short, batik was born not just a commercial object, but is a part of life.
Over time, the beauty of batik began to glimpse its potential as a commercial object. The word 'batick' itself was already mentioned as an exported item in a shipping manifest from Batavia in 1641. The beauty of batik cloth was heard in Europe and attempts to imitate this dyeing process were fruitless. Batik from Indonesia is still the best.
“Rintang” dyeing technique, is not an original Indonesian technique. This technique has been used in Egypt, China, Japan, India, West Africa, Central Asia, and even in Indonesia itself such as West Java (simbut cloth) and Toraja (ma'a cloth). However, the dyeing technique that produced the batik cloth we know today, namely the rintang dyeing technique using written canting or canting stamp with hot wax, is a technique that later developed and reached the peak of its glory in Java.
Nowadays batik is a representation of a traditional heritage, often having the opposite impression of modernity (progress). While progress almost always has an impact on the decay of traditions. It is Indonesia's obligation to protect 'batik' from the changing times and maintain the essence of a piece of cloth which has this philosophy.
BATIK DEVELOPMENT TIMELINE IN INDONESIA
PRE - ISLAM
Ornaments that became popular in batik such as slopes, ceplok, sidomukti, and kawung have been seen in statues from Hindu temples such as Singosari and Banon temples, as well as locations that are thick with Hindu traditions, such as in the Dieng area.
17TH CENTURY - BATIK KERATON
Each piece of batik cloth is not only for covering the body, but most importantly is the arrangement of decorations and coloring is a blend of dimensions, art, customs, views of life, and the personality of the environment that established it, which is the keraton (palace) environment.
PROHIBITED PATTERN
Batik began to start spreading outside the palace, which made the patterns from the palace were not allowed to be used by ordinary people. These patterns are known as the prohibited patterns, including parang and kawung.
MIDDLE OF 19TH CENTURY - BATIK STAMP
Along with the increasing demand for batik, a new technique in batik emerged, which is stamping. This stamping technique is immediately felt to be able to help speed up the batik process so that the selling price of batik cloth could be no longer too expensive.
DUTCH’S COLONIAL ERA
For the common people, the VOC issued regulations that requires the people to continue to wear the "national costume". "National costume" is the traditional clothing of each region; in Java in the form of batik cloth used as a jarit. Because western-style dclothes can only be worn by Europeans and Christian people.
END OF 19TH CENTURY – EDUCATION HAS DEVELOPED
European manners especially in dressing up has spread through every where. The changes were significant amongst the men, where western-style clothing connotes "progress" and "modernity". The use of batik cloth began to shift, replaced by western-style trousers.
1950-an - BATIK 1950s - BATIK AS UNITY, SUKARNO
From his love for the kebaya costume and a sense of nationalism, Sukarno then adopted the application of "unity" by using batik cloth. Around 1950, "Indonesian batik" was born, which combines the design of the decorative patterns of royal batik with the color process of coastal batik. This concept received good responses from batik artists, including Mrs. Soed with her “Terang Bulan” batik, Mrs. Sakrie, Mrs. Setyowati, and KRT Hardjonagoro (Go Tik Swan).
July 14, 1972 - AND BATIK WAS CUT INTO MODERN CLOTHING
People rarely cut batik to be sold as clothing, except for their own needs and used only at home. Only after Ali Sadikin became the Governor of Jakarta, he established batik as the official men's clothing in the DKI Jakarta area, there was a big wave that then changed the way Indonesians see batik. Batik cloth began to be seen its potential as a textile to be used not only for western-style clothing, but also for home decoration purposes.
BATIK UNIFORM
There has been a mass misunderstanding of the definition of 'batik'. The word 'batik' is no longer fully intended for processes that use malam panas, but rather on decorative patterns, so that batik textiles are also called batik. In fact, batik textiles are factory-produced textiles with stylized motifs such as batik ornaments.
UNESCO DECLARES INDONESIAN BATIK AS AN INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE
Taken from "Indonesian Batik" owned by the Indonesian Batik Foundation
Download the book at: https://yayasanbatikindonesia.id/ebook/