Cross Coltural Artisan Association

Refine Batik

-The Highest Quality Batik by Indonesia and Japan-

From the Revival of Traditional Batik to Creative Batik

As the 21st century arrived, Batik was registered to be a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage for its traditional dyeing and weaving culture that represents Indonesia. The name and presence of Batik is now known to the entire world.

However, the advancement of machine technologies made it possible for Batik patterns to be easily copied and transferred by new methods. Authentic Batik, that is hand drawn with wax, is at risk of being pushed aside. Today, inexpensive printed Batik dominates the market. Faced with this difficult situation, how can we carry on and disseminate the culture of traditional hand-made Batik with its delicate wax resist technique that was created and developed in Java? With this big question hovering over us, Refine Batik is now being launched as our main project.

We founded CCAA so that Indonesian and Japanese craftsmen and creators will join hands and advance themselves to a higher level.With Refine Batik, our aim is to produce batik that adapts to the 21st century and is used anywhere in the world. We intend to accomplish this by firmly standing on the basics of traditional batik techniques. We further aim to foster new batik charm by infusing Japanese sensibilities that are not observed in Indonesia.

Why do Indonesian and Japanese work together to create “Refine Batik?”

Indonesian batik has been long familiar to Japanese traditional clothes since 18th century. In 2013, we presented our works that tried to infuse “Japanese motifs” and “block of colors” into batik at the Japan-Indonesia Expo 2013, held in Jakarta. (The Expo was hosted by the Indonesia-Japan Friendship Association)

Our works were seen as entirely new batik and were favorably received. We felt confident that such cross-cultural exchanges among professionals, an endeavor hitherto untried, would open up a new outlook for traditional batik and expand the possibility for new works that surpass our expectations. That is why we produce Refine Batik with Indonesian and Japanese.

Our Visions for Producing Refine Batik

We hope to create batik by employing the wonderful Indonesian traditional techniques, which use a limited number of colors to create an illusion of colorfulness by taking full advantage of pattern variations that are drawn in wax, and adding Japanese sense of beauty to them.

Our intent is not to produce pieces of art that you display simply to admire but to produce goods that are traditional yet modern, and luxurious yet functional enough for everyday use. These goods will also help stabilize and sustain the livelihood of batik craftsmen. Needed more than anything else right now are an environment in which these people can thrive and assistance to make that possible so as to ensure that they will continue to produce batik while holding hopes for the future.