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Komarudin Kudiya: Bringing innovation to batik design
(JP/Prodita Sabarini)Batik has deep traditional roots in Indonesian culture, with well-known patterns such as the chain-like parang and symmetrical curves of kawung, but in the hands of Komarudin Kudiya the art of drawing on cloth through dabbing hot wax rose into different plans of creation
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(JP/Prodita Sabarini) (JP/Prodita Sabarini)
(JP/Prodita Sabarini)
Batik has deep traditional roots in Indonesian culture, with well-known patterns such as the chain-like parang and symmetrical curves of kawung, but in the hands of Komarudin Kudiya the art of drawing on cloth through dabbing hot wax rose into different plans of creation.
His batik pattern designs in Batik Komar exude modern themes, while keeping the core of traditional batik patterns in his creations.
Komarudin, 45, recently won the Young Talented Batik maker award from the Indonesian Batik Foundation (YBI) given during the opening of the batik expo Gelar Batik Nusantara. YBI director Jultin Kartasasmita said the award was given for the creativity and innovation that young batik makers such as Komar have presented. The award adds to the various awards such as Upakarti, an award given by the government for individuals who have supported the national industry for Komar's work in promoting Batik.
He will be speaking in a seminar on the batik business and industry on Friday at the Gelar Batik
Nusantara at the Jakarta Convention Center.
Sitting in front of his busy stand at the expo, Komar said he never imagined that he would become so successful in the industry. Today, Komar employs 300 batik crafters in his workshop. He has a training center in Bandung that also serves as a tourist sight. The training center has more than 1,000 alumni from all over Indonesia, he said.
A little over two decades ago his dream was to become a diplomat, which he pursued by studying International Relations at Padjadjaran University. Prior to that, he obtained a diploma in Computer Science and another diploma for logistic administration. 'I've worked for a consulting company that produces machines for toll roads, so I never thought that I would become what I am today,' he said.
Coming from a family of batik crafters in Cirebon, Komar said he was a fifth generation batik maker. Although during his high school years, his father did not allow him to continue working in the batik industry. 'My parents told me to pursue my education,' he said.
The reason was that in the late 1980s, the batik industry was monopolized by middle men. 'It was driven by middle men. The profit was so small for the batik crafters and payments could be stalled for five to even seven months,' he said. 'We would incur big losses if the family continues the trade so we looked for other alternatives,' he said.
But Komar could not escape the influence of batik in his life. In 1997, he took part in an international batik scarf competition in Yogyakarta and won. 'I tried to create a new design at that time and the response was amazing. I was considered to have created something new, the batik was named 'batik reformasi',' he said. That year was the turbulent year in which Soeharto stepped down and Indonesia's
reformasi started.
Komar used his computer skills to design the winning pattern. Over the years, he said innovation was the key to his success. 'You have to be creative and innovative. I've made the longest batik in the world ' 500 meters without any patches with different motives from Sabang to Merauke,' he said. He completed the world-record breaking batik in one and a half years, he said.
Seeing that customers appreciated his design Komar said that he started to focus on his batik business and dropped his dream of becoming a diplomat. 'I was already too old to take part in entrance exams,' he said.
Komar returned to academia as he expanded his batik business. He completed his Master's in Visual Arts at Bandung Institute of Technology, with a dissertation on mollusks. 'You can develop this theme into various designs, and batik that's meant for the global market needs to have a global theme so that people can appreciate it,' he said.
He is currently finishing his PhD on Revitalization of Cirebon batik. Komar said he was a proponent of formal education. 'I believe that humans have limitations in autodidactic learning. It [autodidactic] learning will never be enough because in the academic world we learn from knowledgeable people. We can also learn from professors whose experiences are valuable,' he said.
Komar said that currently there are almost no institutions that provide formal education for batik skills. He said the lack of trained batik crafters created a sort of cannibalism within the industry as the sector has grown bigger with the increasing popularity of batik. Batik's popularity continued to grow from the late 1990s and reached its peak in 2009 when it was listed on the UNESCO heritage list, Komar said.
'More and more people with capital are moving to batik, young mothers; teenagers in schools and universities all pursue projects in batik,' he said. 'This is a good development, but there is an imbalance between demand and the available labor force. It's so lopsided and companies tend to grab workers from here and there,' he said.
'The regeneration of batik crafters is extremely slow,' he said. Komar opened his training center in Bandung to answer this problem, so that high quality batik crafters would spread out across the country. He said his students came from Banda Aceh to Jayapura, But in the end, his training center would not suffice to answer the demand of high quality batik, according to him. 'More training centers are needed,' he said.
