My Friend's Creation

He's government officer actually but i knew him at Batik Market as juragan that own batik malam,s stall. 
And this is his work. Beautiful isnt it. 

Friendship Force Surabaya : on how we Introduce our Beautiful Heritage to our Friends from Abroad (Sacramento, that is)

Last month we (me, mas Firman Guendut and mas Prima Klampis Ireng Batik ) had the opportunity to give small presentation about batik. The highlight for this session wasn't entirely about the batik itself because Friendshipforce Sacramento delegations had already had a batiking session in Surakarta. Rather we introduce the most traditional way of preserving batik fabric using natural ingredients and 'ratus' , old-style preservation incorporating incense 'fragrant' smoke , the practice that even Indonesians hadn't seen in years.
Well, why preservation intrduction, then ? why not batiking itself ? 
It was just because prior to their arrival to Surabaya, they'd visited Surakarta first and they had their batiking session there. And i think to have continuation of the topic, i think i have to find related but not exactly the same topic with our friend's in Surakarta.

 Photo Credit : All of these beautiful illustrations was Rendy Tjitrawardhana 's from his album : FF SBY-Sacramento, Day 2 - Art & Culture Day .
Contributing presentation material : Ibu Noorlailie Soewarno Tjahjadi with late-night discusion and grammar-checking.

 

 

 

 

The new beginning for The Pasongsongan Premium

I used to run everything in more orderly manner. And 2014 should do the same. It means that i will promise (albeit to myself since i don't know whether i have audience or not), i promise to be 'in a routine manner' to post, since actually lots of things happened in The Pasongsongan , both in Royal or in our TGP (The Grand Palace Dept. Store)
Here are illustrations of things i prepare for our TGP Outlets. I'm excited to see our customer's reaction to our attempt to provide them with more clean line design.
And one thing for sure : The Pasongsongan Premium wouldnt be exclusively about batik. Creativity runs in many directions, and naturally so are we.
I'm venturing to Tenun Ikat of Troso Central Java origin, the Batik Cap (hand-stamped batik) from Yogyakarta and Cirebon-Pekalongan, and Tenun Blanket , also from Troso region.   
 

 

 

For you who stumbled upon this blog of mine, please check my FB Page : The Pasongsongan Premium or my FB account Batik Pasongsongan. Your visit (and comments) will be much appreciated.

Feeling Creative - Part 2

Im not limiting myself into just one or two creations, infact i was finished my other creation inspired my my friend's journey to India and our (community) strands of communications during her staying there.
It was Annapakhsi, the mythical bird of duck-and-peacock hybrid that represent purity, legend says that this divine being so pure it can separate milk from the water it contained.
And the 'standard' of Annapakhsi depicting this mythical-birds in pair guarding the tree of knowledge (or sacred tree some sort , or perhaps tree of immortality).
Mine was done in more imaginative way : this annapakhsi was guarding sacred tree that grew on the island, from the 'snaring-lust' look of both birds and fishes.
Well, i threw my imagination by adding 'susimoyo' , heads at both end of the fabric.
It represents palaces, the Mughal-Style palaces 'with garlands of flowers, guarded' by other birds.
Hope it will turns up magnificent. 
 

Feeling Creative

Don't you think it's kind of bit weird to the sentence "i have borst of creativity just by finding the right pen" ? Well it did, to me at least. And if you substitute the word creative to productive, well, i'm feeling it right now.
Since Bang Rusydi of Nargis Batik challenged me with a pice of processed cotton to draw months ago, i'm feeling constant difficulties to pour my ideas into real lines. And it's manly because of not finding the suitable pen. Simply because of that. I dont know whether this processed cotton has something at the surface, or something elses, the balpoint i use (yes, ballpoint, sir) keeps jamming and jamming. and it frustates me since this burst-of-creativity doesnt come so often. I want to pour everything in that time,completely without any small 'mechanical' distraction of finding your pen refused to coperate with your mind. 
And i found one. 
And everything flow to places....
And here are they....ready to go (to the production studios in Pamekasan, that is).  

 

The Entrepreneur

This month marked the fourth year of our existence in Royal Plaza , still the major place we resided. Although we'd grown to other places such as our 2nd store in Royal Plaza, litle joint-venture projects in Hotel Majapahit & The Grand Palace Dept. Store, Royal Plaza Outlet still the one i consider the most memorable move i had as beginner entrepreneur.

I Remember on how we rent one (nearly) 9 sqm tiny store that i thought would be a cool idea, only to realize that i had choose "the wrong side" of Royal Plaza wing (The Pintu Timur, this section has no major anchor to create substantial traffic). But indeed God had plan for every variety of plans we made.
And we turns out fine. Not (yet) big, but fine. Alhamdulillah.
It also the month we choose to publish our first printed ad in freely-circulated "Hallo-Surabaya" tabloid aimed for middle-class households. It is placed in strategic malls, hotels, and major residentials all over Surabaya. Hope this investment can move us into some (business) recognitions.

For you visiting Surabaya and looking for a quality souvenir of East Java, please check our wide array of Madura Batik selections at "The Pasongsongan Royal Plaza"  G-floor (Ground) no. C2-45 , Jl. A Yani 16-18 Wonokromo Surabaya.   

Friday Batik Parade

It’s Friday and if you’re happens to be one of government officers in Java Island, so you’re most probably wear batik shirt (both you guys and girls). And why not like wearing this genuinely hand-crafted / hand-drawn Batik Fabric, both vibrant in appearance and guaranteed that it wouldn’t  at all, makes you 10-years older.

The batik tulis man’s shirt in short sleeves has a hot item in my stores, partly because nowadays gentlemen are more fashion-conscious than before (really!!) that they’re realized that being ‘wearing the same identical batik like your coworker’s not cool’ , and ‘hot pink’s not for girl domain any longer (though it still I the area of batik. Wonder why people in Indonesia seems more tolerant while seeing gentlemen wearing the most garish-color or crazy-patterned fabric AS LONG as it is batik).

Well, if that’s the way it is, the, so be it.

Happy Friday and wear your batik proudly 

* dont know why this setting decide that the best layout possibel for my photos will be of lay on the wrong side, well...   

The New Breed of Batik

It's not brand new in concept, but it's quite interesting on how Madurese Pamekasan had adapted it so quickly : it is called Market Demand. It consist of both buying power and general taste.

The new breed of Pamekasan Batik  has its own contemporary approach : it is ‘relatively quick in execution, pop (popular) in appearance and strangely, aesthetically pleasing in the eyes.

I share couple of this so called contemporary in-expensive fabric ready to be use directly into some shirt for both men and women (since almost all regencies in Java has ruled that Friday is the batik-wearing day for all government officers)

The beauty derives from its simplistic non-heavy design and philosophy (in fact, it’s known that this batik has no philosophical ‘quest’ whatsoever). And it executed beautifully. It plays with colors, geometric forms and repetition.

 

Riot of Color

Kalau sudah familiar dengan style Madura, pasti yang dicari adalah "tabrakan warna" antara warna-warna yang biasanya tidak akan di-sanding-kan dalam komposisi normal (siapa yang 'berani' menabrakkan biru dan merah terang dalam batik 'tradisional' ?)
Nah, apabila shocking composition yang dicari, keempat contoh ini mungkin dapat  mewakilinya. Batik Pamekasan produksi Desa Nongtangis kabupaten Pamekasan ini cukup halus pengerjaan cantingan nya, dan menggunakan pewarna kualitas tinggi yang tidak mudah pudar. komposisi tabrak-warna seperti ini hanya dapat indah apabila pengerjaannya rapi, warna yang digunakan kualitasnya konsisten di semua pigment yang digunakan, dan tentunya faktor estetika dan 'luck' .

Two Faces

Sesuai dengan perkembangan selera, ternyata para seniman-pengrajin Pamekasan sangat tanggap akan dinamika pasar. Apabila di tahun 90'an trend kontemporer sangat kental terasa dalam kreasi baru batik Pamekasan (dengan 'fajar menyingsing' ala MILO Bali) maka pada saat ini banyak kreasi baru yang ditampilkan. Salah satu yang saya suka adalah batik 2-faces . Kalau dibilang pagi-sore, ya enggak juga, karena ini memang bukan untuk kain panjang. Biasanya kain 2-faces ini digunakan untuk hem/blouse bagi yang berani dalam berekspresi, karena sisi kanan & kiri ada baju jadinya nanti, akan berlainan coraknya. Hanya setelah melihat di bagian pungung-lah orang bakal melihat bahwa perbedaan ini memang dirancang sejak awal.
bagaimana menurutmu ?

Tradition with a Twist

Pola Lotus sebenarnya adalah pattern lama. Tangkai-tangkai bunga teratai Nelumbo Nucifera ( Sacred Lotus ) yang biasanya digambarkan panjang, melambangkan kemurnian dan keindahan yang lahir dari sesuatu yang buruk bahkan kadangkala hina (lumpur kolam). Dan kemampuannya untuk tetap hidup di kondisi yang ekstrim (pada satu kasus, ilmuwan-ilmuwan berhasil ‘mengecambah-kan’ sisa-sisa biji lotus yang terkubur ribuah tahun).

Dengan kandungan filsafatnya yang popular di Asia, pola Teratai adalah pola yang sering muncul di banyak seni bangunan, art-and-craft dan kain.


Contoh ilustrasi ini mengambarkan lotus yang keluar dari pakemnya, baik karena kelopaknya tidak lagi digambarkan berujung lancip, daun-daun nya bukan yang besar, serta tidak ada ‘tanah’ yang menggambarkan hubungannya dengan bumi. Serta komposisi warnanya yang ‘berani’.

Smooth As Silk 4

Blue Mystique, itu yang terkesan pada saat lembar Kain Batik Sutera Tulis Madura ini dibentangkan. Desainnya sangat unik karena menampilkan perpaduan dua pengaruh dominan di Batik Madura khususnya batik Tulis Pamekasan , yaitu klasik dan kontemporer, keduanya dalam satu bidang.

Layout desain keseluruhan pastilah kontemporer, dengan kotak-kotak bidang yang diisi dengan pattern modern, bahkan bisa terkesan 'primitive pattern' karena dapat mengingatkan kepada pola berulang dari kalimantan (saat ini banyak batik madura yang menggunakan / incorporated desain dayak di pola isen-isennya).

Warna yang dipilih juga menunjang kesan ini. Berbagai nuansa biru dan sentuhan hijau dan keseluruhan nuansa gelap ditambah dengan penggunaan 'high gloss' silk satin yang amat berkilau.

Nah,pola tradisional diwakili oleh sepasang burung kahyangan (bird of paradise) yang bisa diinterpretasikan sebagai cenderawasih atau phoenix di sisi kanan dan kiri, menjadikan batik sutera tulis madura ini menarik untuk mereka yang masih menyukai sesuatu yang bernuansa tradisional.

Smooth As Silk 3

Batik Tulis Sutera Madura dengan nuansa hijau ini semakin terlihat "mistis" apabila terkembang di pantai selatan (apa hayoo).

Terdiri dari 3 potong dalam satu set-nya, dikenal dengan istilah "sarimbit" yaitu paket batik untuk pasangan. Biasanya terdiri dari bahan atasan/kemeja pria , satu bahan sarung/bawahan wanita dan satu selendang. Ketiganya dibatik dengan motif atau nuansa yang serupa sehingga seperti "kembaran".