Loyal is the word that best describes one of the country'€™s leading batik makers, Batik Danar Hadi. It continues to create batik, from the simplest to finest forms, refusing to bow to challenges that have caused many companies to shut down operations.

The secret of surviving in the business: creativity.

'€œHave I ever gotten bored of making batik? No. I'€™m deeply in love with batik and always try to be creative when it comes to making batik and refuse to stop,'€ the brand'€™s founder Santosa Doellah, said during a recent media gathering in Surakarta, Central Java.

Danar Hadi was founded in September 1967. The brand'€™s name derives from the name of Santosa'€™s wife, Danarsih, and the first name of his father-in-law, Hadi.

Born into a family of batik businessmen, his interest in batik was instilled at a very young age. He studied economics at Padjadjaran University in Bandung to learn how to set up his own batik business.

Danar Hadi'€™s first products were Wonogiren painted batiks adapted from classic batik motifs of the Surakarta court. The recipient of the Upakarti award for merit then set up several batik settlements in his village of Singosaren in Sragen and in Pekalongan.

But it has not always been a smooth ride for his business. Santosa recalled having to face one of his biggest obstacles on his journey in managing Danar Hadi.

In 1972, he said, the basic material to make batik was hard to find as there were fewer suppliers of the white textile used to make batik available in the market.

'€œWe used everything we had because production had to keep going. But to avoid that from happening again, we built our own factory so we didn'€™t have to rely on other sources,'€ Santosa said.

In 1980, Danar Hadi began exporting the fabric to the US, Europe, Japan and Australia.

In addition to selling batik, Santosa also likes to hunt for vintage batik, even flying to the Netherlands to secure a piece made in 1830. His collection was then displayed in a batik museum that he built in 2000.

The museum, which used to be the home of the son-in-law of Sultan Paku Buwono X, has 11 rooms that display over 10,000 batik cloths, including those with historical values, such as those of the palaces of Surakarta and Yogyakarta and the Mangkunegaran and Pakualaman; and Dutch, Chinese and Hokokai batiks.

'€œMany of the collections were secured from international auction houses, such as Christie'€™s and Sotheby'€™s,'€ said Asti Suryo Astuti, the museum'€™s assistant manager.

As its batik business strengthened, Danar Hadi established a batik factory last year, producing around 6,000 pieces per month, 1,000 of which are hand drawn.

Danar Hadi is now led by Santosa'€™s children. His daughter, Diana Santosa, who is company'€™s managing director, said it always tried to keep up with the trends while staying true to the original characteristics of Danar Hadi designs.

'€œWe have 10 designers that are responsible for creating modern cuts of batik, especially for women'€™s ready-to-wear,'€ Diana said.

But the development of the batik motifs, she added, was still under her father'€™s control.

'€œI'€™m still involved in designing the motifs. And I still visit the factory every day, checking the situation and staying in touch with my batik artists,'€ Santosa said.

'€” JP/Novia D. Rulistia

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