JP/Theresia Sufa

Although Rukoyah Siswaya was born in the Central Java town of Wonosobo, her heart will always belong to Bogor.

The 42-year-old owner of Bogor batik producer Batik Tradisiku, who has been living in the West Java town of Bogor for the last 25 years, chose to make batik as a way to show how much she loves the city, although she is no novice in that line of business.

“Before producing my own batik, I worked as a batik vendor for many years before I tied the knot with my husband. I used to buy batik from Yogyakarta and Pekalongan [towns in Central Java] and then sell the pieces in Bogor and its surrounding areas,” Rukoyah said.

Then in 2004, she met an employee at the local office of the National Handicraft Council who asked her if she would be interested in making a Bogor-style batik.

Rukoyah knew Bogor once had a batik of its own a long time ago during the kingdom of Pakuan Pajajaran.

Fauziah Diani Budiarto, the head of the Bogor chapter of the council, along with her team and Rukoyah, decided to look into the ancient kingdom’s batik art and culture.

“Although I agreed to produce a Bogor-style batik, it was not easy task as Bogor did not have any batik artisans,” she said.

So she brought in batik artisans from Yogyakarta and provided them with a place to live.

“To start my business, I had to sell one of my houses, a car and vacate my rented house,” she recalled. “I used my [formerly rented] home as an atelier and accommodation for batik artisans.”

Rukoyah, who began producing Bogor-style batik in January 2008, has the full support of her husband, Siswaya, and their two sons, Lisha Luthfiana Fajri and Afri Yudhawan.

“I am really excited about producing batik for the city of Bogor because I am enamored with my new home city,” Rukoyah said.

“And since the very beginning, the Bogor administration promised to register my batik as a patent. They kept their promise too.”

The city administration has supported her throughout her endeavor, introducing her batik to a wider market and helping her promote it all over West Java, even as far as Batam in the Riau Islands province.

Before producing the batik, Rukoyah also spent her time exploring various batik motifs other than those originating from the kingdom of Pajajaran.

“I started looking into various motifs from surrounding areas, like the Rafflesia flower from the Bogor Botanical Garden and motifs of rainfall, given Bogor is the city of rain.”

She was also inspired by talas (a kind of tuber-rooted plant), a popular plant in Bogor, as well as kujang kijang (a traditional weapon and a deer), which was eventually chosen as the motif for Bogor batik.

“We produced all of these motifs, except the banyak ngantrang one,” she said, referring to the first batik motif introduced by King Siliwangi for his sinjang dodot traditional costume.

“The [banyak ngantrang] motif cannot be worn every day because it used to belong to kings. Besides, it is also more difficult to make.”

Tradisiku’s batik vary in price. A fine batik cloth costs between Rp 225,000 (US$25) and Rp 2 million a meter, the printed version costs about Rp 30,000 or Rp 40,000 a meter while stamped batik costs between Rp 75,000 and Rp 150,000 a meter. A batik shirt or blouse costs between Rp 80,000 and Rp 2 million.

“I make Bogor-style batik not only to express my love to this town, but also to preserve the art of batik strongly rooted in the Indonesian culture since batik has been in this country for centuries,” she said.

She hopes one day Bogor batik will be known all over Indonesia.

“My next goal is to have a decent place to produce batik and also a showroom that people, including tourists, can easily visit,” Rukoyah said.

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