Batik Incubator Boosts New Designers

By Hazlinda Hamzah KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 28(Bernama) -- Five Malaysian batik designers poured their hearts and souls recently into batik fabrics that later went on exhibit at the Seri Endon Gallery here. The gallery has been organising batik shows for almost nine years, in an effort to encourage young designers to come out with their ideas and innovations for batik fabrics. The Seri Endon Trophy competition is held to unearth new ideas for the creation of new motifs among the batik designers, apart from boosting them with the inspiration to come out with both traditional and abstract motifs in line with the current taste of batik aficionados. From what was on display at the recent batik show held at the gallery, the batik motifs created by the five designers looked attractive, with fresh colours. Many batik aficionados in Malaysia are still keen on traditional and modern floral motifs. These patterns have been at the forefront of the local batik scene for a long time. In Malaysia, batik is made either by block printing, hand painting or canting. At the recent batik parade at the gallery, floral motifs were much in evidence. The robust colours and huge floral patterns made the batik fabrics on show more chic, ideal for the younger generation. INCUBATOR Nori Abdullah, chairperson of Malaysia's Yayasan Budi Penyayang, expressed confidence that the foundation's efforts will further stimulate the marketing of batik produced by winners of the Seri Endon Trophy competition. “The Seri Endon Gallery has acted as an incubator to assist the Seri Endon Trophy competition winners, particularly the young talents, as well as batik makers, to market their creations,” Nori said. Batik fabrics worn by models at the parade drew overwhelming response from the audience, many of whom opted to buy the fabrics immediately after the show. GREEN FOREST Jaludin Zaini, 49, is one of the designers who took part in the batik parade at the gallery. Jaludin, who prefers to be addressed as Udyn, is from Sarawak. Udyn has a batik boutique in Rawang, Selangor, named Pua Indah. This boutique serves as the place for Udyn to express his creativity, which is mainly based on nature. His batik creations appear fresh and lively, and the motifs bold and daring. Udyn's batik creations manage to reach out and convey his ideas to the audience, apart from givin a cool look to those who wear them. Udyn's youthful creations are ideal for the leisure lifestyle. He was the second runner-up in the batik designing category of the Seri Endon trophy competition some years back. Udyn said: “The green forest is full of unique life forms and it exhibits various living colours. "I am fascinated by the colours of the flora and fauna in the forest, so I made them my inspiration for my creations this time around". SARAWAK HERITAGE Another batik designer who took part in the event, 58-year-old Jamilah Shukri who also hails from Sarawak, injects elements of the land of the Hornbills' heritage into her creations. Jamilah won third place in the Seri Endon Trophy competition in 2007. Jamilah's batik creations came into form with assistance from sister Norlia, who is a year her junior. Norlia's touch appears to closely run with nature, particularly the prominent colours that reflect the earth and trees. The efforts by Jamilah and her sister are fresh and attractive in terms of the motifs and colours. "Many customers now prefer the colours of the earth, so my creations focus on these colours, which are marketable. "The colour of the Pua Kumbu fabric, a woven product of Sarawak, utilises colours from the same category. "I also use green in various intensities to inject the element of freshness into the batik,” Norlia said. “I am more inclined to the circular traditional motifs of the Orang Ulu. I made some variations based on current times and used block printing to ensure that the motifs are consistent on the fabric. Such motifs cannot be hand-painted,” said Norlia, who just returned from Cape Town, South Africa. PARADE The batik fabrics on display were not in the form of apparel but simply and creatively wrapped around the bodies of participating models on the catwalk. Accessories were matched to bring more shine to the batik fabrics on display. The event saw many friends of the late Tun Endon Mahmood invited as guests, including Toh Puan Sagiyah Salikin. Malaysia is world-renowned for its batik and batik products and an effort is underway to maintain the nation's image among the globe's top batik-making countries. -- BERNAMA