The Show

Kind of surreal to see your 'creation' to walk the runway albeit the small one, but yet, the real one (the one with proper music and real runway models etc).
Anyway, a couple of weeks ago The Pasongsongan (the one in The Grand Palace Dept Store ) was invited to participate in Batik Cltural Heritage Week of sort . And the participation of course, showing our latest collection of batik (pamekasan) , tradtional ladies' top (Kebaya) and men's shirts.
The show was successful but unfortunately i was behind the stage coordinating everything in-between runway schedules. But here it is, few of mens photos.
beautifull isn't it?

New Excitement to our Outlet @ Royal Plaza Surabaya

Earlier this year we had opprotunity to acquire more space adjacent to our current outlet at Royal Plaza. Perhaps most of you hadn't know, we have a real-bric-and-mortar outlet in Surabaya, at Royal Plaza in Grould/G Floor in Jl. Achmad Yani 16-18 , Surabaya. 
Very non-typical of me that i'd rushed all process including non-thinking of opening up the price. But i think it will worth the potential of expansion. 
Please visit us when u have time in Surabaya. 

Note : it's not done yet as you might notice of "Beware of wet glue" posted in both way of the newly-installed big glass-window. 

Silky Feeling : Another batch of Luxury

Well, i'd posted second batch of our silk stock, and here they are.
Btw, some of them were posted in my facebook account ; wahyu subiyantoro; , and perhaps if you have a crush on them, and if they're still available, you could buy them. Just contact me and i'll see if they're still there (well, half of them are in my house, another is in Royal Plaza Outlet).
And oh yeah : these are buckels that also available in our outlets, in case our customer want the total (ethnic) look. 
It's hand-made buckle in burned-finished copper. Pretty arent they....

 

Silky Feeling : those luxurious fabric around your hips

It's kind of funny on how one marketing strategy can helps sales tremendeously. Well, not that dramatic, of course. But you get the idea. 
The batik tulis ( hand-drawn batik) on silk is something deemed not very popular these days since it usually connected to the old-fashion feeling, more mature silk-shirt father (or even grandfather) kind of thing. Not cool. And quite expensive.
That's too bad since silk batik was and still something i find rather alluring, on how come someone rejected the idea of added luxury into your otherwise everyday clothes ensemble. 

Well, in our store, for months we tried to sell those hand-drawn batik on silk with not-so-encouraging result. And then i saw friends use more affordable viscose stamp-batik for hip wrapper, beach-style but this time, topped with embroidered traditional cotton blouse (we called Kebaya) for informal function (and sometimes in more elaborate functions as well). 
And we starts to sell , marketing our hand-drawn silk batik as luxurious alternative of beach hip wrapper. 
And people buy to the idea.
Well, at least we can help our friends specialized in producing silk-based hand-drawn batik in Pamekasan, while aso producing healthy profit (not much, but healthy). 
And i can find a good excuse to buy more of it (cannot help myself, they're gorgeous)

Here are some of our h

and-drawn Pamekasan style silk-based batik of our own.   

Few Steps Closer : Pamekasan's Journey into Perfection

Now this is my posting @ my FB Pages

Oleh-oleh perjalanan ke Desa Podhek Pamekasan seminggu lalu, bersama Mbak Niyah, Bang Rusydi dan Mbak Myshat Andaya , menemui rekan-rekan pengrajin.
Untuk saya yang sudah berkali-kali berkunjung, tidak ada ekspektasi khusus selain bertemu teman-teman dan melihat karya mereka yang terakhir. Tetapi ada satu "kejutan" yang disimpan Bang Rusydi dan Teamnya untuk kami : masterpiece dalam proses kelahirannya.
Sering kami berbincang bahwa pencapaian yang ingin diraih adalah melahirkan "real" batik halus di bumi Pamekasan. Sehalus apa ? : bagi rekan-rekan pecinta wastra (batik) sudah tidak usah ditanya lagi. Hanya satu tolok ukur kehalusan saat ini : The real masterpiece of OST.
Cecekan halus OST klasik ini yang akhirnya ; saya rasa ; berhasil didekati oleh Bang Rusydi dan Team-nya. Belum bisa dikatakan sudah berhasil karena batik ini (semua yang ada di album ini berasal dari satu lembar batik) dimaksudkan untuk menjadi multi-colors, bukan biron. Tapi (meminjam teman whatsapp saya yang kemaren saya forwardkan gambar-gambar ini) biron-nya-pun sudah menggetarkan sukma.
Tidak ada 'roh pamekasan' di sini? Engga masalah, karena kita sedang me-redifinisi-kan identitas Pamekasan (seperti kata Bang Rusydi dulu : saya bertujuan membuat batik halus, bukan yang 'lain-lain').
Buat rekan-rekan pecinta batik, titip doa ya biar si bakal 'supermodel' ini bisa lahir dengan selamat, karena ;tahu sendiri khan; masih panjang, jalan si Biron ini menjadi batik masterpiece tonggak sejarah peningkatan kualitas Bapk Pamekasan.

 

Canting Besar

Canting Besar, that is to named few batiks that has bigger wax sprout-tip, often seen as 'less refined' than the one with more tny-almost-micron-wide canting 'nol'. Or event 'nol-koma.
But beauty can be seen everywhere, and whether it was lies in the batik of highly-detailed rendering or just crude 'everything-goes' creation.

These are examples that catch the attention. It is fully hand-drawn, vibrant in color and bold. Things expected from Pamekasan's.
Beautiful isnt it .....   

 

My Personal Goal-Setting

In 2014 , i want to make it better. "It" means that i will have some framework plan, things to do for definite time ahead. And i will do it in quarters.
This actually had to do with me attended "Bincang Santai" organized by SS FM , the great radio in Surabaya (highly recommended if you're into something informative) , and one the speakers of that evening was Lenny Agustin-national designer. She punched the importance of good planning and organization. Something i long admired in people with discipline and good self-arrangement. So here i am, making public statement albeit in my own private FB wall, that i will do this-and-that for the next 3 months.
It is labelled under "The Next Project of The Pasongsongan" , something that emphasize that this is part of bigger plan (and it is since i have to think about producing enough merchandises for 3 spaces : Royal Plaza, The Grand Palace and Hotel Majapahit's).
And for you, the input will be highly appreciated, my friends.
What do you think of it....

 

Find Us @ Yelow Pages "East Java Pocket" guidebook.

Hi all
This time's actually the second we're joining the publication of Yellow Pages' "East Java Pocket Guidebook". The first was last year's second half period (this book was published twice a year).
This is our ad. It runs from January to June 2014.
Tell me what you think of it.

 

Batik Day, October 2nd , 2013

Just sharing some pictures and news about "Friendship Force Surabaya" program receiving FF Ladies from Brazil, and i was invited to introduce our cultural heritage, the batik .
It consisted of 2-course "meals" , included smal introductory presentation about batik and batik session,done by the ladies themselves.

The presentation's just 'scratch in the surface' since batk has wide array of the topics itself. the major point was to pt initial interest to the batik.the fabric, the process on how it was made and the meaning behind it.
The presentations actualy turns out fun, since it was like a two-way conference. I was spoke to the audience and Mrs. Simone, the leader of Brazil FF translated it into portuguese.Too bad the presentation couldnt make it to the end due to the limited of time available.
But the fun was just beginning, the ladies was taugh to prepare their own sheets of cotton,by tearing it up manually , in a single stroke. It was fun to see the ladies tried it themselves.