N

ot all people love textiles and not all people love fabrics. But of course, most people do love fashion. Little do we know that behind the lavish word and world of "fashion", there stand the magical words and worlds of "textiles'"and "fabrics".

The Indonesian textile heritage is the pride and joy of the nation. Not only with the precious traditional fabrics, but also the growing number of the nation's best designers now involved in batik. Then comes the miraculous mix between our Indonesian traditional heritage and the modernity of today's world in terms of fashion and artistic values.

Now you can find batik, ulos (North Sumatra's woven fabric), songket (fabric with embroidery), and all the different fabrics with contemporary designs coming from every part of Indonesia right before your very eyes: not only the Javanese textiles, but also those from Sumatra, Sulawesi, Kalimantan, Bali, Flores, Nusa Tenggara, and others.

Red, yellow, green, brown, blue, gold, pink, you name it!

Some places in Jakarta have certainly indulged this "hobby" or "self-fulfillment" of ours. Yes, we can certainly visit these luxurious shopping plazas and malls to see baik. But for those of us who want to try something different, we can try the following:

On Aug. 9, 2009, I organized an event at the Museum of Textiles, located on Jl. K.S. Tubun in Petamburan, close to the Tanah Abang market. I gathered around 20 friends to attend a batik workshop in a spacious wooden hut, just next to the museum building itself.

Yes, we were going to make handmade batik using canting and the melted wax called malam.

I wish I could explain all the details about this do-it-yourself batik, but I really hope that all of us go there sometime and try it for ourselves. The experience is so worthwhile, we can even get addicted to it.

Making batik has its own philosophy, and fortunately the professional instructors at the Museum of Textiles will kindly and considerately share with us both the techniques and the philosophy behind the making of batik, and how to treasure batik pieces.

Inside the museum, there are collections of textiles from all parts of Indonesia. This collection is updated periodically, with a new exhibition every three months. To gaze at all these beautiful artworks brings a sense of thoughtful gratitude that we are so blessed by this cultural heritage.

The particular day when the batik workshop was held, there were some Japanese tourists who came to the museum workshop. There was even one Japanese woman who was having regular batik classes (a short course) there.

All of us took this opportunity and then captured few pictures of it. It was nice, wasn't it?

Making our own batik and gathering people to explore, appreciate, and even make their very own batiks, always gives me a sense of satisfaction. My heart is telling me that this is the right thing to do. I bet we always feel this way whenever we do something for the greater good.

On Aug. 22, there was an event held at the Jakarta Convention Centre (JCC): INCA 2009, an exhibition of Indonesian art, crafts and interior design. One week later, Batik Forever was held at the same venue. Batiks, old and new, were exhibited and sold.

Beauty was everywhere, and having attended both events, I can guarantee that on those particular days, hundred of millions of rupiah of transactions took place. Yes, the business of art and creative industry has become such a fertile ground and is therefore promising territory for artists and investors.

Knowing that both events were full of exhibitors, buyers, observers, and art lovers is truly a good sign.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have come through a successful period when everyone is crazy about wearing batik and other traditional fabrics. I believe that now is the time for us to go deeper, to sit down and try to create our very own handmade batik.

For fun, for profound appreciation, and even for learning how to navigate the vast batik industry so as to develop businesses and prosper. Deep in our hearts, we all know that this tradition is making a major comeback and we expect it to do well in the future.