‘People Crave Batik That’s Entirely Different From the Current Patterns’

Related articles

My Jakarta: Bang Kamaludin, Kerak Telor Vendor 10:57am May 25, 2012

My Jakarta: Astrid Wibowo, Candy Maker 10:10am May 26, 2012

My Jakarta: Aldwin and Willy, Tech Entrepreneurs 8:47am May 24, 2012

My Jakarta: Wibowo Basuki, Restaurant Owner 9:14am May 23, 2012

The Sunday Profile: Adnyani Dewi, Photographer and Full-Time Mom 1:20pm May 21, 2012

If it’s Friday, then chances are there are a lot of people wearing batik, and that’s all right with Nanang Halim. You see, it’s his job to give lovers of the fabric new choices. With his sister at the designer’s table and himself as the marketing guru, Lim, as he is known, is working to revolutionize the business of batik.

He’s even started to dabble in his own designs, which focus on using traditional patterns in tandem with other fabrics. His updated look of highlighting a solid shirt with a sleeve or collar bearing traditional symbols and patterns has taken off, prompting him to plan a fashion show this year to promote his emerging line, which he hopes is a winner.

To be a batik fashion designer, you must love the fabric. Tell me about your relationship with the artful cloth?

As a kid, I often saw my grandparents and parents wear batik to special occasions, such as wedding parties. My grandmother would often tell me that we could only wear certain patterns of batik on specific occasions. For example, Sidomukti batik should be worn for weddings because it is intended as blessing for the wedded couple and their future happiness. Another batik, called Parang, should only be worn by soldiers.

This made me realize that batik is more than just hand-drawn traditional cloth that has a lot of colors and patterns. It has a lot of meaning that can be traced back to its patterns and symbols.

People are rapidly regaining their appreciation for batik and there is a lot of competition among fashion designers. Some of them are very popular and have exclusive outlets in luxury department stores. How do you stand out?

Indeed, there are a lot of batik designers in Jakarta, and they are all great with their own style and designs, but so are we. Our brand has its own style of batik design, so we are competing. Let the best brand win.

Specifically, we love to combine batik with other pieces of cloth, such as lurik [a traditional Javanese hand-woven cloth with a striped pattern] and sarongs. We believe the combination shows the uniqueness of the batik itself. Sometimes, I use batik only for the lining of other clothes. Or to give a design contrast, I may use plain colored fabrics for the sleeves and then batik collars.

This is what makes us proudly different. We want to present batik in different ways. You can wear our batik anytime, anywhere. It’s not only for formal occasions, but also for casual attire.

Did you focus on batik from the very start?

Me and my little sister, Lina, started the clothing business in 2006. At the time, Lina was the one who did all the designing, while I took care of all the marketing since both of my graduate and undergraduate studies were in marketing. At first, most of our customers were women and they often asked us to design evening gowns for them.

Then what happened?

Around two years ago, I started to design batik for myself. Some of my friends who saw my designs started to ask me where they could get pieces like that and I told them that they were my designs. Then the requests for the pieces started to flow in.

That’s when I realized that a lot of people really love batik and don’t just consider it as another clothing alternative. They crave batik that’s entirely different from the current patterns on the market. Since then we have started to focus heavily on batik as our design material.

Now I also handle menswear design in addition to handling the usual marketing stuff, and Lina handles the women’s designs. The brand is called Lina and Lim. H.

Any negative reaction from your regulars toward your new batik designs?

Some of them feel that my designs are very uncommon, but some of them love it. Nothing seriously negative, really. I don’t see it as an obstacle, but more of a personal challenge to convince my customers to wear my batik and a social challenge on how I can get my designs accepted by society.

Where do you get your batik stock from?

I visit places around Indonesia to meet the batik craftsmen. I browse through their collections myself and then buy directly from them.

I now have a healthy stock of various kinds of batik in my workshop, starting from the most expensive variety, tulis batik, with each piece individually hand painted, to the mass-produced printed batik and also Prada batik, which glitters from the gold dust on its surface.

What is your future strategy to market your brand of batik?

I plan to arrange a fashion show for my collection in early 2012 to gain brand recognition from more people. I want to focus on showing how different our batik designs are from others.

Nanang Halim was talking to Mulianingsih Kurnia.

Be the first to write your opinion!

Citra Graha Building 11th Floor, Suite 1102 | Jl. Jend. Gatot Subroto Kav. 35-36 | Jakarta 12950 | Indonesia

Phone: +62 21 29957500 | Fax: +62 21 5200072 | BeritaSatu Media Holdings