"The techniques, symbolism and culture surrounding hand-dyed cotton and silk garments known as Indonesian Batik permeate the lives of Indonesians from beginning to end: infants are carried in batik slings decorated with symbols designed to bring the child luck, and the dead are shrouded in funerary batik."Indonesian Batik described by UNESCO (United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization)
It has been a year since UNESCO listed Batik as one of the items on its "Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity" list and the batik trend which my friend once said would not last long, seems to still be going on strong in Indonesia.
Just logged on to facebook and saw many of my friends updating their status with invitations of wearing batik today. In the newspaper, store ads announce special discounts for those wearing batik on this day.
And just saw a new product by Attack called Attack Batik Cleaner, a detergent specially made for washing Batik. Batik needs to be washed carefully to maintain the dye used in batik so that the color doesn't fade quickly. Usually people use lerak (soapberry) to wash their batik (especially the expensive ones), which is quite a hassle. Now that this product is in the market, it will definitely make washing batik much easier. (But why did it have to be a Japanese company who came up with the idea?)
Btw, not only Indonesians are crazy about Batik...check out a few of these celebrities: world-artists-with-their-batik
Happy Batik Day!
No comments:
Post a Comment