Walang (grasshopper) motif by Rekna Indriyani, one of the signature in Gunung Kidul (Photo credit: Batik Kani)

Rekna Indriyani, is a batik maker from Gunung Kidul, Yogyakarta. Indri was born in Bayat batik village and has smelled batik wax since she was still in the womb. Recently graduated, Indri ventured into batik entrepreneurship with motifs that combines traditional methodologies with inspiration from a unique source – temple relief!

In this episode of aNERDspective (our NERD talk show where we converse with amazing friends about their textile adventure and perspectives), We chat with Rekna about her journey in transforming history and artefacts into contemporary fine batik textiles.

Note: Full chat is in Bahasa Indonesia and this translation of the transcript has been edited for reading format.

Tony Sugiarta (TS): Welcome Rekna to today’s aNERDspective.

I was browsing Instagram @rekna_indri and saw your motifs were really cute. I want to know more about the stories behind your works. Probably we can start with a little introduction of yourself first, who is Rekna and your journey on studying batik. 

Rekna Indriyani (RI): My name is Rekna Indriyani. Is it a bit formal? *laugh*

Take it easy.

My friends and other people around me call me Indri because it is easier. I studied in ISI (Institut Seni Indonesia, Indonesian Arts Institute) Yogyakarta, majoring in Textile Crafts. I started a batik business when I graduated from college in 2019, to be precise at the end of September or early October.

I started to know batik since, it can be said that from the inside of my mother’s belly, I already smell the wax. My mother is a batik maker, so I have been running around the house and seeing batik.

I live in a small area in Gunung Kidul, Yogyakarta. In my village, the majority of housewives are batik makers. So, the majority of the women here are batik workers from other regions. My village is within the border area of ​​Gunung Kidul, Central Java. Many producers are in Central Java, in the village of Bayat, Klaten. Most of the women here take batik jobs from the bigger producers there in Bayat, Klaten.

I have seen batik since I was young and  it was fate that brought me to batik again. When I was young, I was curious. So, I have been nyanting since I was in elementary school.

How old were you when you held canting for the first time? 

Maybe Grade 4 or 5 in elementary school because I saw my mother nyanting and I wanted to try it. But then my mother said, “no need to nyanting, just be a teacher.” *laughing*

Since then, I have not held a canting anymore. I went to a high school (SMK) in Bayat. There was a new school opened, maybe it has only been 2-3 years running and I was the 4th generation. It was the first art vocational school in Klaten, as far as I know. There is a ceramics and textile department there. Because the distance is close, I went to school there. We learnt about batik in school. I said that it was fate that brought me to batik.

After graduation, I entered ISI Yogyakarta majoring in Crafts, specifically textile crafts. Even though we learned a lot (of modules) there, we did focus a lot on batik, about 70% is on batik.

In 2018, there is something called KP (Kerja Profesi, Professional Work or internship) on my campus. I did an internship at one of the traditional batik artists, his name is Mr Abdul Syukur, who owns Batik Nitik Taman Lumbini. He is concerned with traditional hand-written batik. I did my internship there for about 6 months and I learned traditional batik there. Mr Abdul is arguably very instrumental in my batik journey because he was the first to say that batik could be a life pathway for people who want to live it.

Batik could be a life pathway for people who want to live it.

In semester 8, there was a final project. We have to make a piece for the graduation requirements. I tried to apply the knowledge from Batik Taman Lumbini into my final project. Finally, I made a traditional hand-written batik, but with a different source of the idea, the temple reliefs, such as this Motif Kertas Tempel, a motif on the wall of the Prambanan Shiva Temple. That’s how it all started.

Are these motifs, including the names, also created by yourself?

I do not name them myself, since the relief itself already has a name. I developed the motif with a concept that is more of a traditional batik, such as the pedalaman colour.

How far is Bayat from the city?

Bayat is in between Yogya and Solo. If you go from Yogya to Solo, you will pass Bayat, maybe about 1 hour.

How many batik makers are there? 

You could say hundreds. It is a batik village. In one village, 70% of the females are batik makers.

I want to ask a little about the (batik) ecosystem in Bayat itself. Are they all batik workers who pass their work to external batik traders or how? 

In Bayat, for example, there is one leader and they have batik makers. They specialise in making raw batik (ed.: the people who only do waxing). The beginning process and the finishing will be completed at the leader’s workshop . The batik workers here only do waxing, they do not know the colouring or design process. So, we say they are batik labourer, not batik artisans.

Is the leader inside or outside the village?

Inside the village. Some of the women will make batik in their places directly, working daily. There are also those who take the job back and do it at home.

So, there are those who are paid daily and those who are paid per piece?

It is said as batik borongan (wholesale batik), there is a wholesaler (ed.: the leader who buys and sells these waxed pieces by the bulk).

These traders are the ones who distribute and sell the batik?

Yes.

After graduation and you continued on with batik, how was the journey?

When I first graduated, I thought of what to do with this craft? Finally, I started uploading my works on social media. This is the beginning when I see the opportunity from the interest of the wider community. My work is appreciated and some people like it. Finally, I made it, but at the beginning it was really hard when I was just starting out.

Even last year, I had given up on batik because I was a freshly graduated student and I am looking for (to fulfil) material need. I also took the Civil Servant test because I found it hard (to survive) in batik. As time went by, I got to know an anthropologist friend and he tried to share my batik with his friends. From there, it turns out that many people like my motifs.

Does your mother still make batik?

Yes, and she helps me a lot because she learned from experience. I also asked my mother often, such as what is a  good isen-isen, if the motif is too big or not, etc.

What was her opinion when you decided to make batik, how did she react? Because you were told to be a teacher before. *laugh*

Actually, my parents were a bit hesitant, “what do you want to be if you keep making batik?” At the beginning, I struggled a lot. I thought I would try it for one year. As it was gradually improving and many people were getting interested, finally she thought that I could continue.

One of the things that is unique about your motifs is the narrative, that is not based on the interior or coastal areas. As you said earlier, (they are) from the temple reliefs. Maybe you can explain a little bit about the batik development process from the research process or the first step when you developed the motif? 

Back then, I went on a study tour while in college. I went to the Brojobuwono Museum, one of the keris museums in Karanganyar. There, I saw the head of a keris with beautiful carvings and I asked my history teacher. It was a figure of Dewi Durga. From there, we researched further and found it at Prambanan. Finally I went there with my lecturer and he said that it could be made into batik and we investigated further.

The first process is that we go straight to the place. We will see what the reliefs are like and, if it goes into batik, how will it be developed. After that, we look for a valid source regarding, for example Goddess Durga that I made, we look for sources about her, starting from her story, the reliefs in the monument of Dewi Durga, and what they mean.

The second stage is to find the meaning that you want to present to the consumer, what story that we want to give to the people who are enjoying our batik.. Then we looked for batik references which, because I myself like traditional Solo batik, so I looked for batik references for those. I look at what will be a good batik arrangement or a good colour combination looks like. From there, we can start the design process and the batik process.

From the stories and philosophies gathered, how do you distillate them into a motif design? 

I used a theory called iconography theory. I forgot some details, but it explained that we can present visuals where visuals can give people an indication what they are meant for. For example, for the Goddess Durga motif, I took parts that are unique to Goddess Durga, such as her weapons and then processed it into one motif with references from the traditional Yogya and Solo batik arrangements.

What do you mean by the reference from traditional Yogya and Solo batik?

I looked at the examples of the batik arrangement, I followed some of them, such as the sloping Parang motif arrangement. Also to look at the colour combination because batik is as such because of the complementing colours. Usually I see (such inspirations) from the traditional Yogya and Solo batik.

I saw a round shape from batik nitik. Is it because of the internship at Mas Abdul’s place that got you the inspiration? 

Yes, because during the 6 months I saw Pak Abdul’s batik, maybe I did not realise it had an influence on the design I made.

Besides the temples, are there any other inspirations?

Currently, I am still focusing on temples, especially Prambanan Temple, because it is a rich visual source. There are so many temple reliefs that can be designed into batik. Until now, I am still working on the Prambanan Temple.

There are two motifs that I was attracted to from your Instagram, walang (grasshoppers) motif and the turtle motif. Can you share the inspiration for drawing grasshoppers and turtles? 

For the walang motif, as I am originally from Gunung Kidul and there is one distinctive motif called the walang motif. In Gunung Kidul, there is a special culinary dish, fried walang (fried grasshopper). Here, I see the designs from all the manufacturers here are the same.

What do you mean by the same? 

There is no further development of the original motif. I want to make a new one and make the walang motif in a new way.

As for the turtle motif, it was originally a motif for a competition. In Gunung Kidul, there is a batik design competition, especially for historical relics. At that time, I made the batik one day before the deadline and there was insufficient time. Instead of (keeping it in the drawer and) becoming useless, I uploaded it on Instagram and someone was interested. I made it into a full-length cloth. It was originally from a newspaper that feature historical relics were found and there was turtle-shaped relief. It looks unique and as I am also from Gunung Kidul, I made it into batik.

How long will it take from the research to the design process? 

It varies.

It depends on the deadline? *laugh*

Hahaha, yes. For Goddess Durga, when I first started making batik, it took more than 6 months of research. As I am not very proficient in history, I have to start from the beginning and the literature about such relics is hard to find. For motifs that are visible, there are literatures and explanations and it took a maximum of a month. The design itself requires quite a long time and, you know, young people tend to have mood swings.

(Indeed), usually the most difficult work is to design, very mood-dependent. If there is no inspiration, there is no design. But after that, to nyanting process itself, it should be pretty fast? 

Quite fast, and the fastest to process is about one month.

The whole cloth in one month or just one color? 

One month finished for one cloth.

I also see that the work is really fine, using a small canting. 

That is right. That is what I want to give to consumers. Because the design takes a long time, I want to make a batik that is as good as possible.

I also saw something like Cirebon batik, with fine thin lines.

It was custom-made. Other than making my own design, there were some friends who asked me to make a batik with a certain story. The latest, I got an order from a friend, asking for batik with images of snakes and birds. So, I really have to realise what is meant by the customer to (create) my own design.

In terms of colours, you said earlier, most of them follow classic colours, such as blue and brown. You also have bang biron (ed.: red and blue), it seems? 

Yes, it is true. The bang biron color was (produced) not long ago, actually. In the beginning, I just made blue, brown, and black. There was a request from a friend to make bang biron. At first, I did not know what the technique was. I just said yes and (figure it out). I made it and I also like it. From there, there were many requests for bang biron.

Is bang biron trending? 

Maybe because there are already many sogan colours. Maybe they want a different colour.

Many are also asking for blue on white or blue backgrounds with white (from the wax), or bang biron. That’s the case over there too.

I think people like that colour.

Do you explore natural dyes as well or is it all synthetic? 

In the beginning, I used natural dyes. In my village, the majority of batik craftsmen use natural dyes.

As I am not yet confident to handle all batik processes, the first time I made it, I only designed it and then gave it to the craftsmen here for the dyeing and lorod. Gradually, I found that it was not effective because I had to wait for the craftsmen. I cannot give the cloth today and request for it to be finished this afternoon. Meanwhile I have to fulfil other requests as well.

I then switched to synthetics dyes, but I am still learning too. Now I focus on synthetic dyes because for natural dyes, to make a colour like bang biron is a bit difficult. If it is blue, black or brown, you can still do it.

Do you do all the dyeing yourself?

Yes. Because it is difficult to have them dyed according to my wishes when working with other craftsmen. So, it’s better to do it myself.

So, do you employ batik makers now?

Because I am still new in this business, I do not have any workers. The women here take batik jobs from me. There are no permanent workers who come to the workshop every day to make batik.

Can you tell us about some of the challenges that you faced?

The challenge is the human resource. Although there are many batik makers here, the majority of the batik makers are not up to my standards. It is quite difficult to find fine batik makers, so I often go to other villages too. If the batik were rough from the start, even if I can teach them, it will be useless, they cannot be more fine (Read more: Soul of Batik: Healer, Protector or Temptress?).

The second challenge is, perhaps, social jealousy. I would say that the standard wage of batik workers here is very low. As there are too many workers, the producers also gave them wages that are lower than what it should be appropriate for the work. As my work is different, I tend to give higher. That resulted in jealousy as I am deemed to be poaching their workers.

Is this jealousy from other producers or from other batik workers?

It is more to other producers. For example, they usually give Rp. 100,000 (~9.30 SGD, 7 USD) for 1 sheet of batik but for my standards, I will give Rp. 150,000-Rp. 200,000. That resulted in bad sentiment (among other producers).

It is like destroying the market price?

Yes. If I look at their work and their wages, I feel sorry for the batik makers.

It is still happening globally, there is still a lot of discussion about the fair compensation for batik makers, sustainable heritage and cultural development, etc. As you mentioned, it promotes jealousy and inequality. I think it is very complex.

The first time I started batik, I felt it. When I gave the wages to the batik maker, she said that it was too much. I was also surprised to hear that because if I were to make the batik myself, maybe in 1 month I could only finish 1 raw batik cloth.

In addition to human resources, are there any other challenges?

Since my design is specific, maybe the market is also more specific. For every design I make, I can only produce a maximum of 10 pieces. The design needs a long time to be produced and the production cannot be optimised (yet). This is because not everyone can produce the motifs that I make.

(Do you mean) 10 pieces as stock or for order?

For 1 motif design, I will usually make 1 piece first. When there is a request then it is reproduced again.

Where does the majority of the market come from?

They mostly come from Jakarta.

So, they know from social media, right?

Yes.

It started in September 2019, then a few months later it had to be closed due to the pandemic. Can you share about how it affects your daily routine?

It was the toughest period. When I just graduated and started a batik business, then the pandemic started. In a month, I only have 1 order and made more stocks because we still have to exist on social media. I need to continue to be productive. Finally, at the end of 2020, many people are looking for batik on social media because they cannot go anywhere. From there, it began to rise again, many people were looking for batik and willing to read captions about batik, and they were attracted to my batik. Some consumers are still loyal until now.

Your observation is very interesting that more people read about stories behind a creation. Not everyone, of course.

So, during the pandemic you continue to produce and do not stop working, right?

Yes, because you cannot go anywhere, you cannot do anything else. So I just think positively that it will be sold later.

When the pandemic started and all areas were closed, were you planning for any market outreach?

At that time, I was not thinking about it, just production. At that time, the motivation came from the batik makers because they often asked me if I have new jobs. It made me think that I should keep going because there were some people who expect work from me. Even though they were not completely dependent on me.

How many people usually accept jobs from you?

Only about 4 people at the moment.

How is the market response to your batik?

For the first time, I was a little surprised by their response. My first customer loved my work because they read the story and (enjoy) the visuals. He is also an anthropologist. I sent the goods, and after it arrived, they photographed and retell it in their language. That is one of the market responses that I remember (vividly) until now. It turns out that people buy batik not only for the visuals, but also for the stories so they can retell it again to the others.

People buy batik not only for the visuals, but also for the stories so they can retell it again to the others.

Did you show it to Pak Abdul?

Yes, incidentally this client is also Pak Abdul’s customer.

In addition to Batik Kani, Indri created another brand called Danke. Can you tell us more about these brands and how are they different?

Danke is a brand that I created when I was in college. At that time, there was an entrepreneurship program, where each student could submit a proposal regarding entrepreneurship and later receive a grant from the campus. One of my friends and I submitted this proposal and created the Danke Batik brand.

Danke Batik is more focused on modern batik. Danke Batik produced more products that can be used by young people in daily life. So the initial goal of the Danke brand was to introduce batik to young people and also encourage young people to wear batik in daily life because you also can look fashionable while wearing batik. That was the initial goal of making the Danke brand.

So, which one was first, Danke or Batik Kani?

Danke first.

Are both of them still running until now? Or do you just concentrate on Kani?

Now I put more focus on Kani because Danke Batik was originally built by 2 people. After graduation and having our own activities, Danke Batik was neglected. So, at the beginning of this year Danke Batik just started to be active again. We made masks and for the last Eid, we made prayer mats. It is just about to be revived.

What is the meaning / story / philosophy, vision and mission of Batik Kani and Danke Batik?

For Danke, at that time we were confused about what name to give (because of the impending deadline), so my friend were looking for good names on Google. Finally we got a word, which is Danke. Initially we did not know what it meant but it sounded cool. That was so absurd! After a few weeks, we found out that Danke means thank you. We did a rebranding in 2019 and received assistance from UNESCO’s entrepreneurship program for rebranding. So Danke was rebranded into Dankekita.

For Batik Kani, I had not thought about the brand name initially. I shared my products through my personal social media and would not use any brand name first because I thought that I still have to focus on the production. At the end of last year, I took part in an entrepreneurship training and I had to use a brand name. I looked for beautiful Javanese names on the internet, and found Kani which means ‘graceful’. My quick thought was to make a batik that can make the user proud. My friend then said that it is so appropriate, Kani is short for Rekna Indriyani and I use that name.

It seems that you would get inspiration when it was the deadline. *laugh*

It is because Pak Abdul Syukur is very influential for me. I see that he is also selling his product using personal social media, so I think it is okay to sell my product using personal social media. For the brand name, I will think about it later after everything has matured. The main focus is to think about what kind of batik (I want to present). But because I was forced to have a brand name, I created it.

At first, when I heard Batik Kani, I thought it has a relationship with Japanese which means crab when I saw that there were walang and turtle. I thought it was inspired by animals.

What are Kani’s next projects?

Now, I am still focused on orders. I have several orders, asking for custom designs.

Next, I want to make a batik sequel series. In Prambanan temple, there are 3 complexes, Siwa, Brahma and Wisnu. I focus on the Siwa temple complex. In the near future, I want to make a batik following the pilgrimage path in the Siwa Temple complex, and then we will produce several batik series to explain that journey. In Siwa Temple, there are 4 chambers so that the batik will be made according to the order of the chambers.

So, in 1 series there are several pieces of batik.

What are the hopes for Batik Kani in the future?

Hopefully Batik Kani can continue to be productive and to have an impact, especially for the batik makers here. Hopefully Batik Kani can survive to support other people. That is the main goal of Batik Kani. Hopefully, we can still be creative and productive.

I am very inspired to dig further about archaeology and prehistoric objects, such as ancient temples and the stories on the reliefs, which are very interesting to be transformed into batik using your innovative motifs. Thank you.

We hope you enjoyed this episode of aNERDspective. Check out the previous episode on IGTV and our gallery and store if you would like a piece of Indonesia for your home or wardrobe. You may also check out  Indri’s Instagram for the latest collection.

Photo credit: Rekna Indriyani, unless stated otherwise.