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      Hand-drawn batik floral motif, Lizza Creations. Carved woodblock, Lembaga Muzium Negeri Terengganu.

      the beauty of Malaysian batik

      It has often been said that art and craft can reveal something of the history and character of a nation, and the craft and, more recently, art aspect of Malaysian batik—a generic term referring to a process of decorating and dyeing fabric by making use of a wax-resist technique—is no exception. The work of local batik designers and producers is highly original and adventurous, but at the same time rooted firmly in age-old traditions established as far away as East Turkestan and West Africa and as nearby as the island of Java in Indonesia. Centuries of maritime trade along the East–West ‘water silk route’ and the reciprocal exchange of goods and ideas from outside and within the area that came to be known as Southeast Asia have contributed to the techniques, pattern structures and motifs of the region’s handwoven and surface-decorated cloths.

      Malaysia is a relatively young nation—independence was achieved only in 1957—and its batik industry is less than a century old. Its development in the east coast states of Kelantan and Terengganu in the 1930s was inextricably linked to local production of the batik sarong, the earliest and most enduring costume in the Malay World. Decoration was applied with wax from the metal block (cap), initially in imitation of imported sarongs from the north coast batik centres of Java but later with uniquely Malaysian motifs inspired predominantly by the natural world and in accordance with the Islamic preference for geometric and denaturalized stylization—the triangular pucuk rebung (bamboo shoot) motif on the kepala or main decorative head of the sarong, and stylized plant forms and meandering veins on the surrounding badan or body. Coloured hairlines, produced by cracking the wax, were a dominant feature from the start, as was the concept of ‘reversibility’—visibility of the design on both sides of the cloth. The advent of metal block-stamped yardage in the 1960s allowed batik to be tailored into items of clothing other than the traditional sarong.

      Since the 1970s, with the enthusiastic adoption of the stylus or canting, batik making in Malaysia has become less a craft and more an art. The Malaysian definition of batik has also acquired a much larger meaning than the Javanese one, which is renowned for its masterful but laborious canting- drawn wax lines and dots on the sarong format. Lengths of batik are no longer simply made into sarongs in Malaysia. More often they are creations that display all the characteristics of works of art—originality of composition and design, effective use of colour, a high level of technical expertise and, above all, a flair for working in the medium of batik. Similarly, the old system of anonymous artisans is giving way before a new style and organization of the batik industry that encourages individual talent and promotes recognized batik designers and artists. The batik fashion designers and artists featured in this book are only a few of many. For every one that is highlighted there are several more that could have been. There is an enormous pool of creative and talented young people working in the medium of batik, all striving to imbue batik with a Malaysian identity while experimenting with new techniques, fabrics and patterns.

      The tenacity of batik, of its ability to survive by adapting to new situations, is reflected in the way it has been successfully applied to home interiors and in the hospitality trade, though more through ‘accessories’ than upholstery. Batik painting has also come to take its place among the fine arts of Malaysia. The most significant diversification, however, has been into contemporary and couture fashion. Much of the impetus for this is due to the initiatives of the Yayasan Budi Penyayang in the first decade of the twenty-first century to revitalize Malaysia’s batik industry by focusing on the adaptation of batik to suit fashion needs and the use of high fashion as a tool for displaying the beauty of batik. Penyayang’s ‘Malaysia Batik—Crafted for the World’ movement, launched in September 2003, has done enormous service in augmenting the number of designers in the local fashion industry, many of whom have been ‘discovered’ during the annual competition for batik fashion design. These designers are finding handmade batik an exciting fabric to work with and a strong seller. Because they are willing to experiment—with fabrics, techniques, designs and colours, often incorporating other non-batik materials and embellishing their work to highlight motifs and add glamour—they are rapidly gaining a reputation for being bold and innovative. Several have made inroads on the international scene, while others have enjoyed prestigious collaborations with foreign design houses, launched their own fashion labels or opened boutiques. Labour-saving mechanized production of textiles carrying batik designs will always find a place in the market for mass-produced, low-cost clothing and items such as uniforms, but batik tulis (hand-waxed batik) and, to a lesser extent batik cap (wax-stamped batik), is here to stay for leisure, day and formal wear.

      The beauty of Malaysia’s special brand of stylus batik (batik tulis) is apparent to all in its bolder, freer designs—striking abstracts and energetic floral forms—brighter palette and innovative colour combinations. But Malaysian batik is beautiful on other levels—as a promoter of Malaysian cultural and national identity, both locally and internationally, and as a unifier in a multiethnic

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