The move was marked at Saturday's event by the planting of trees, the leaves and/or flowers of which are considered eco-printable, in a 3,200-square-meter plot of land in Turi that will be developed into and managed by the association as an eco-print forest.

“Although all leaves and flowers are ecoprintable, we specialize in trees with high print value,” said AEPI chairman Puthut Ardianto, adding that some of the tree species were lanang, eucalyptus and castor.  

He said the newly established AEPI was planting ecoprint trees across Indonesia.

“This movement is very supportive of our program to promote a sustainable fashion industry,” he added.

AEPI cofounder Rokhaya Nur Fitriyani agreed, saying that eco-printing in the country had set a good example of a movement that is in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially during a time like the pandemic.

“This is one of the most successful efforts [to cope with the current condition]; this is [promoting] Indonesian eco-print to the world,” said Fitriyani, who owns the 3,200 sqm plot of land to be developed into an ecoprint forest.

She said the energy the Indonesian eco-print communities aim to spread was very positive. Providing an example, she said that during the pandemic, while others were complaining over the gloomy economic condition, eco-printers, mostly women, continued working and producing — even though their sales figures were not as good as before the health crisis.

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She added that eco-printing had been growing very rapidly in Indonesia for the last two years, with some 10,000 ecoprinters grouped in several communities nationwide, providing a positive impact on the country’s development, she said.

This was also what has encouraged Fitriyani and three other noted eco-printers — Inen Kurnia, Bustanul Arifin and Puthut Ardianto — to establish AEPI earlier this month to accommodate the fast-growing number of ecoprint makers in the country.

Ecoprint or eco-printing is a technique of coloring and printing on various media using flowers and leaves to capture their patterns and colors with the help of natural dyes and other materials.

Through a series of processes, this will result in a piece of ecoprint work that is unique because every piece is one-of-a-kind; none of them are exactly the same, only similar.

Fitriyani added that thanks to producing ecoprint products, many local housewives were able to support their families economically.

“I have seen many women working on eco-print who are able to support their families,” said Fitriyani, adding that the association would continue spreading the positive energy to the world.

Ecoprint maker Erna Herawati agreed, saying that together with other ecoprinters in Bantul regency, Yogyakarta, they made an appointment to simultaneously plant trees in their respective neighborhoods on Saturday.

“This is our way of maintaining nature. We pick one from nature, we plant 10 trees in return,” she said. (swa)

Editor’s note: This article is part of a public campaign by the COVID-19 task force to raise people’s awareness about the pandemic.