Batik & dyeing workshops - Yogyakarta, Central JavaLocated in the heart of Yogyakarta, the workshop was established in 1940 by Pak (Mr) Winotosastro, the 4th generation of a family with a strong batik tradition. The company is currently run by his daughter Hani Winotosastro, an accomplished batik artist and dynamic entrepreneur. As her family legacy intertwines with her Indonesian cultural heritage, she is deeply committed to the Sekar Jagad Batik Lovers’ Association set up to promote genuine batik textiles and the use of natural dyes.

At the end of the 1960s, Pak Winotosastro traveled the world to present his handmade traditional textiles. Batik sarongs were enjoying an international revival and the Winotosastro manufacture was employing one hundred workers. Exports have significantly slowed down since the 1990s, but Hani Winotosastro strives to maintain high-quality batik-tulis and is committed to sharing her skills and experience with her many visitors. She advises museum currators or private collectors on batik restoration techniques and her own spectacular artworks are routinely exhibited in Jakarta’s museums.

A former chemistry student, Hani Winotosastro has a sharp understanding of the dyeing techniques. The batik entrepreneur is a well-known pioneer in addressing environmental, recycling and health issues. The manufacture has a few vats dedicated to natural dyes and dyers wear protective gloves and masks when using non-toxic synthetic dyes. The wastes are all collected and stored away until they can be destroyed. During the finishing process, the hot melted wax is skimmed off the boiling vat with a big perforated paddle and ultimately recycled. The spacious manufacture filled with daylight succeeds in blending its traditional craft production with modern ergonomics, providing amenities and facilities designed to ensure the comfort and safety of the workers.

Winotosastro is known for manufacturing traditional batik kain-panjangs, the Javanese waistcloth worn wrapped around the hips and part of daily life in Indonesia until the early 1980s. The family run company owns three thousand copper stamps to produce their batik-cap or batik-kombinasi, an artful combination of the cap and the canting wax pen.

Batik tulis is traditionally women’s work. The batikers sit on their high stools in a circle around several metal pans of wax, with a taplak (used cloth) resting on their laps to protect them from dripping hot wax. They repeat the same smooth movements hundreds of time a day: dipping the canting in the wax to fill the cup, blowing through the canting’s spout to remove all obstructions, drawing the design with wax onto the fabric, waxing the outline first, then filling the pattern and background.

Batik cap is generally the work of men. The wax is heated in a shallow pan containing a filter to remove impurities and used as a stamp-pad. Standing behing a padded table, the worker presses the copper block on the stamp-pad to absorb the wax then applies the cap onto the white cloth. Some patterns require the use of several caps. As with batik-tulis, the cloth is waxed on both sides.

The Winotosastro batiks feature the traditional colors of the Kraton Yogyakarta: indigo blue and soga brown on a white background. The first dyebath is traditionally indigo blue. When the blue parts have been completed, the wax is scrapped off in some areas and reapplied in the areas of the design that must remain blue and white. The cloth is then immersed in the next dye bath, usually soga brown. After the dyeing process, the wax is removed in boiling water.