Pasar Batik & Batik Research Workshop at Erasmus Huis

Ibu Siti's daughter posing in the library of Erasmus Huis

with the book 'Batik drawn in wax'

 by Dutch former textile conservator Itie van Hout about the Tropenmuseum batik collection, 

now Wereldmuseum Amsterdam

Photo by Ibu Siti

Anna Silooy and me during the Batik Research Workshop

Photo by Ardita of Erasmus Huis

First time in a train that honks non stop, not sure it is because I am in the front that I hear it better or just an overactive conductor. Anyway I will blame my typos on this. My short weekend escape to Pekalongan and Batang gave me some room to gather my thoughts.  It is like I cannot land in Jakarta, everything feels unreal and with the amazing openingsweekend I needed some space to give it a place. My heart is still full and reading all the positive responses and seeing all the creative social media posts made in the exhibition just makes me so happy and proud.

Mak Sium packing in the sold items

Photo by me

Ibu Siti made smaller Batik artworks for the Pasar Batik

the natural dye process is long and in this size it is easier to experiment with colours 

while being mother of two young children. 

Photo by me

Ibu Ramini of KUB Srikandi showing her batiks

Photo by Mas Karim

On Sunday 22 October, last week, we held a Pasar Batik at Erasmus Huis with the pembatiks who are showcased in the exhibition ‘Masa depan Batik | Future of Batik’; Ibu Ramini of KUB Srikandi, Mbak Eka of Batik Lumintu, Ibu Siti, Mbak Nurul of Batik Tulis Batang and Mak Sium. What is better than being able to buy art from the artists directly!! To have enough stock they started producing a year ago and I am very thankful all batik fans, friends and collectors showed up to shop. Also many of the Dutch embassy took this opportunity to get some wonderful handmade pieces. I gave little tours in the exhibition and every time I walked back I saw at every stall batiks being unfolded and bought. Of course couldn’t resist buying some batiks myself. Most I will bring to Singapore for my small pop-up event at aNERDgallery ‘Oh, That Batik Bolk, a weekend with Sabine Bolk’ from 10 till 12 November. Love this title! Hope to see everyone in Singapore there!

Mak Sium poses at the booth of Batik Lumintu with Mbak Eka and Miss Tasya

Photo by Mas Karim

Me and Jennifer of The AriaBatik

 checking out the wonderful pieces by Mak Sium

Photo by Mas Karim

Next to shopping Batik at the Pasar Batik, we had a booth by Kesengsem Lasem selling their fashion items like bucket hats and jackets. The Sore Santai Market provided booths with snacks, drinks and more shopping fun. I tried some boterkoek, which is actually a dutch thing and got a lovely present from Kalimantan from Kain Dadi.
Next to shopping, we had a fashionshow. The newly made streetwear collection ‘Jagad Phoenix’ by Kabari was brought to the runway. The models were mostly of the Dutch embassy, thanks to Anna Silooy of Erasmus Huis and did a great job modelling the batik looks, cheered on by their collegues. It was so much fun and a nice moment to show how fun, modern and new Batik can be. Thank Ibu Yullia for helping me organise it!

Fashionshow 'Jagad Phoenix' by Kabari from Rembang

Photo by Ardita of Erasmus Huis

Everyone taking a picture at the end of the fashionshow 'Jagad Phoenix'

Photo by me

After the Pasar Batik the pembatiks and their family from Batang returned home. At 4am the group from Lasem returned home. Weaving them out teary-eyed, what a weekend and what a great way of getting to celebrate my 14 year journey. Just wauw!
That evening I had one more opening program to do. Next to the exhibition and pasar, my work in research had to be included of course.
As part of my project at Erasmus Huis, I wanted to include my research, but not just my published findings, more a place where you could actual work on Batik research yourself. Like a Batik Research Center that can hopefully continue and grow also after this exhibition. Specifically for those who want to know more about collections kept in the Netherlands, about Dutch scholars in the past and want to prepare for studying Batik in the Netherlands. 
For the library I brought together a collection of books on Batik and the close related topics such as the Dutch imitation batik. The books are in Dutch, English and Indonesian and are partly by Dutch scholars and on Dutch collections. 

The books I got partly as donations, partly bought, 

that were added to the Erasmus Huis library

Mas Fairuzulhaq during our talk about Eliza van Zuylen

Photo by me

Next to the books, I was thinking about how to make the Dutch digital collections more accessible. There are great archives with Batik collection and information on Batik, but most are in Dutch, as in the system behind it. This makes it difficult to work with many of them for people who do not master the Dutch language. Because I work a lot with these databases and learned basically by doing, I thought it would be nice to put some tips and tricks into tutorials. At the moment this tutorials can only be accessed by using the QR codes in the library. I will make them available publicly on a later date. 

Teacher mode on during the Batik Research Workshop

Photo by Ardita of Erasmus Huis

Batik Research Workshop in the library of Erasmus Huis

Photo by Ardita of Erasmus Huis

So back to Monday 23 October, I gave a Batik Research Workshop. To our surprise fully booked in a very short time, so new one is coming up > 20 November, more info soon on the Erasmus Huis page.
Before the workshop started I had a short research session with Mas Fairuzulhaq. We have been chatting through messenger for a few months now, since he reached out to me about his plans to research batik entrepreneur Eliza van Zuylen and specifically how to identify a real Van Zuylen vs a later date imitation of her designs. This interesting research topic brings to light many difficulties. First, how to get information. The sources in Bahasa Indonesia are limited and mostly based on sources from Dutch authors (which sometimes write in English, but not always). These sources, books and articles, are if you are lucky only available in Jakarta. The library of Museum Batik in Pekalongan has a lot, but not so much as Museum Tekstil in Jakarta, but by far not as much as I can access in the Netherlands at for example the library of Wereldmuseum Leiden (former Museum Volkenkunde), or the University Library in Leiden, or the library of Textielmuseum in Tilburg. 

The second issue, what if what you are looking for is not mentioned in any of the books and need to do comparisons with actual batik pieces. You need access to either very good detail photos, but even better, the actual batiks. I think most original Eliza van Zuylen pieces are privately owned in Indonesia, the later imitations are what most museum collection have. So I told Mas Fairuzulhaq to reach out to collectors and asked them about their pieces. He got either no reply or a 'no thank you'. Although I insured him this was when I started the case too, and it unfortunately takes time before collectors and researchers want to share their collections and knowledge, it was really discouraging. For me personally him wanted to do this research as a student from Pekalongan is reason enough to help, but I also told him, This is part of the research. The fact that is is inaccessible, hard to get answers, is just as good part of the story as the solutions you hope to find. It is good and important to share which walls we try to climb or break down. Otherwise how can it be done?

I was glad I got to share some time with him in person, giving him some guidance on books to check out and of course he joined my workshop too.

Batik Research Workshop

Photo by Ardita of Erasmus Huis

Batik Research Workshop

Photo by me

In the workshop I used a more hands-on approach. With two exercises the database of the Wereldmuseum together with provided literature sources were used to find answers. It was also a way of sharing new findings and other sources that not yet made it into the database. So to think beyond what is put in the books and in the database. While I thought mostly students would join, I had curators from museums, collectors and just really big batik fans joining the workshop. Everyone worked so dedicated to find the answers. It was so great to share my research in this way and looking forward to doing this workshop again in Singapore on 11 November at aNERDgallery and on 20 November at Erasmus Huis in Jakarta.

Pak William with Ibu Siti and her family

Photo by me

50 years Galerie Smend

Opening speech by Rudolf  at the 50 year celebration of Galerie Smend

20 June 2023 we celebrated 50 years of Galerie Smend in Köln (Cologne) in Germany. I was so happy I was invited to both the pre-party on the evening before and for the big celebration on 20 June. The first time I went to the gallery there was an exhibition that went with the publication of the book 'Batik, Traditional Textiles of Indonesia from the Rudolf Smend & Donald Harper Collections' in 2016. The second time was shortly after in 2017 for the launch of Maria Wronska-Friend's book 'Javanese Batik to the world' which was celebrated with a little symposium. In between my last visit and this one, me and Rudolf Smend stayed in touch through email and letter. Rudolf sends me published articles and publications, and I do so in return. It is always lovely to get Batik post from him. In this post more on the celebration at Galerie Smend!

Galerie Smend with tree decorated with batik on 19 June 2023

In a few hours by train I arrived in Köln on 19 June. I first had a lunch date with researcher and fellow Batik fan Rika Tsukano who joined the event all the way from Japan. We met briefly in 2019, but had now more time to chat and share Batik stories. In the afternoon we headed to the gallery.

Galerie Smend and the small Batik Museum are in the same street, Mainzer Straße, a street with old high buildings and a lane with trees in the middle. All the trees in front of the gallery had a batik wrapped around them.

For the 50 year celebrations an exhibition was made with many of the Batik artists that had at one point of time showed their work there. The works of Art were accompanied by framed invites, flyers, posters and letters of when their work was shown at Galerie Smend. A very nice time capsule and what an accomplishment!

Galerie Smend was founded in 1973. After Rudolf Smend around travelled in Asia and fell in love with Batik in Indonesia, he returned to Germany with the idea of selling batik. At that time there wasn't a gallery in Europe specialised in selling batik, new and old. Rudolfs wife, Karin, came with the idea to include selling all materials needed to make batiks like cantings and dyes. Soon the gallery started selling vintage, antique batiks and made exhibitions with modern batik artists from all over the world. 

A great handbook 'Batik Handbuch' published by Galerie Smend in 1980 showcases 136 artists that work with batik, next to many batik tips and tricks.

Page from the Batik Handbuch from 1980

During the pre-opening celebration, Rudolf made a speech in which he showed part of the publications Galerie Smend contributed to. Publications accompanying exhibitions held at their own space, but also many publications they contributed to either by loans from their collection or sharing knowledge. It was so wonderful to gather with all these people who are connected to Galerie Smend somehow; artists, researchers, many collectors, sellers, family and friends. I felt lucky to be there. 

Rudolf Smend showing publications made over the years by Galerie Smend

There are many lovely publications made by Galerie Smend. Here the ones I have at home, shown on top on the batik gift from the 50 year celebration.

From top to bottom; Publication 'Pattern nor painting' by Ada van Hoorebeke (2021), book 'Batik, Traditional Textiles of Indonesia from the Rudolf Smend & Donald Harper Collections' (2016),  'Javanese Batik to the world' by Maria Wronska-Friend open on page with Rudolf Smend (2017), three books by Peter Wenger with 'Indigo' together with Tomoko Kitaoko, the Batik Handbuch (1980) and 'Introduction to Indonesian Batik' by Annegret Haake (2012)

Artists Peter Wenger and Tomoko Kitaoka come to the celebration of course and included their work to the exhibition. I have two lovely publications of Peter, 'Batik Retrospektive' (2006) & 'Out of Ireland (2007)and one of them together, 'Indigo' (2013). Peters work is simple, but full of strength, poetry & humor. I had a wonderful conversation with him in 2017 and he gave me one of the booklet I didn't had yet. It was great to see him and his work again.

Ada Van Hoorebeke checking out Tomoko Kitaoka work with Peter Wenger sitting in the front

Overview of Tomoko Kitaoka work at Galerie Smend

Detail of Peter Wengers work

In 2016 & 2017 I was already impressed by Rudolf Smends old batik collection and he has made some great books showcasing them. In the basement of the gallery yet again were some beauties on display. Three signed by 'L.Metz', a Snow white, a Cinderella and one with herons, one by J.Jans in blue and white, a pastel coloured Eliza van Zuylen and an unsigned batik perang Lombok. What a treat!

The two fairytale batiks are in very bad shape and have been restored creatively. The one with Cinderalla is stitched through out the design following the pattern of the isen-isen and flowers along the edges. In the past this would have been thrown away because it was unsellable, Rudolf said to me, but now people are happy it has been saved. Totally, I am one of them!

Batik Tulis signed by 'L.Metz'

Collection Rudolf Smend

Unsigned batik perang Lombok

Batik Tulis signed by 'L.Metz'

Collection Rudolf Smend

Batik Tulis signed by 'L.Metz' with the fairy tale Snow white

Batik Tulis signed by 'L.Metz'

Collection Rudolf Smend

Small reproduction of batik perang Lombok

Rudolf announced there was a gift for everyone in the gallery space, were I saw in 2017 the work by Catalina Espina. Everyone could pick a batik artwork for a small donation for two charities. There were so many great artworks, many dated 1970's, in bright colours and with bold figures. I took a lot of photos while finding it hard to choose. In the end I went with a small repro of batik perang Lombok the next day. I thought it was so interesting to reproduce it, and because there was such a nice example shown in the basement, I took it as a sign. Still need to explore this batik design further and try to date its origin correctly.

20 June was the official 50 year celebration. Before the celebration started I went into the Batik Museum, I think the only one we have in Europe. It is so cool this exists and nice to explore by myself. Highlight again the black and white photo of Rudolf at Taman Sari following a batik workshop by Pak Hajid. The same place I followed a batik course in 2009. What a small world after all! And of course the showcase with cantings, marvellous! So many different kinds and what rich history!

Few of one of the rooms of the Batik Museum

Black and white photo of Rudolf Smend following the batik course by Pak Hajid

Detail of display of cantings

In between the trees surrounded by batiks on the trees and in peoples clothing, we celebrated with traditional dance from Bali and Betawi (Jakarta), speeches and a rice tabel (rijsttafel). I though this was something you can only still get in the Netherlands, but apparently it is served in Germany too. It was very hot, but with the great food and great company the celebration flew by. It was such a joy to gather and meet so many people, people I know from their books, work or collections. 

Thank you Rudolf and Karin, family and friends, for hosting this wonderful celebration! And congratulations on this meilenstein!

Rika, Ada Van Hoorebeke and me

Me posing with Katharina, long time employee of Galerie Smend, and Rudolfs nephew

Go visit Galerie Smend in Köln if you can, and make sure to visit the Batik Museum too,

 for more info go to www.smend.de

Hope is the thing with feathers*

While I am working behind the scenes, or mostly screen, on many projects, I cannot share much on it yet. But I did wanted to share a couple of things, not just on my work, but also on some things I visited, watched and joined. Although they are diverse, they have a common denominator, or focus point; The Wearer. I gravitate more towards it since my research projects are very focussed on the wearer(s), but I also feel there is more focus on it and interest in it!

Book 'The Dress Diary of Mrs Anne Sykes by Kate Strasdin

In March I joined an online talks by the Fashion + Textile Museum titled 'Secrets From a Victorian Woman’s Wardrobe'. Fascinated by the title already. It was really wonderful to hear and see more on the research done to make the book 'The Dress Diary of Mrs Anne Sykes' by Kate Strasdin. This talk is no longer online, but luckily Kate does many talks, including a two part episode for the podcast 'Dressed, The History of Fashion'. A podcast I can highly recommend, I listen already so many episodes, great background info, very divers; historical dress, famous wearers including Queen Sirikit and even protest wear. But back to Kate, and Mrs Anne Sykes. After being gifted an anonymous sample book, Kate started transcribing the limited handwritten information it contained, finding not only the maker of the sample book, but the wearer and many of the other wearers. The samples bring us from the mills of Lancashire to the port of Singapore. An amazing and fascinating discovery! I haven't yet get myself a copy of the book, since I have must reading work that has to be done, but I highly recommended as your read for the Summer! For now, check out some of the textile samples here '16 stunning Victorian textiles from The Dress Diary of Mrs Anne Sykes'.

One of the wearers who samples were collected by Anne Sykes: Mrs Seddon is another person whose name proved untraceable but whose wardrobe leaps from the page. Hers was especially bright, including a zig zag printed gauze that is almost psychedelic.

Cees de Jonge photographing one of the 50+ batiks at Museum Sophiahof

At the end of March I was able to document 50+ batiks at Museum Sophiahof. All the Batiks are privately owned, not as collectors, but passed on within families. So of most we know who wore them. I met the owners through the different Batik consultations I did over the past 4 years, and thought the time is right to finally document all these beauties & their stories. Some will be included in upcoming projects I am doing, others hopefully soon too. It was amazing to get this photoshoot day organised. The owners who brought their batiks, some only 2 pieces, some 10, waited patiently for me & Cees de Jonge to get them photographed. My poor knees hurt days after, but I am so so so glad these kept important pieces of history are now documented in high res, ready to be shared and researched further. Thanks Yullia & Het Indisch Herinneringscentrum!

The Dress at Museum Kaap Skil in May 2016

The Dress at Museum Kaap Skil in April 2023, photo by Koen de Wit

When in 2016 the news came out about a spectacular textile find, I made a blogpost about it right away: 'Such wonderful news today, I have been captivated by it all day. It sounds like a treasure hunt, the researches themselves say it is like finding something in a hidden room, but it is even better.

In August 2014 divers found textile near a known ship wreck in the Wadden Sea near Texel in The Netherlands. Among the textile finds are a near perfect silk dress, an embroidered etui and never worn stockings. The spectacular news of the find was kept secret till now, so researches had time to explore and make sure what the find was. It now turns out that the ship wreck is dated to be built around 1600. The ship is made of boxwood and by using the tree rings they are pretty sure about this dating. Among the finds is a Jacobs staff, a tool for navigation, with the date '1636' written on it. So these clothing found by the divers are from beginning of the 17th century. That means they were laying on the bottom of the sea for 400 years. One of the divers says in a clip online: "Normally you only read history and now we added something to it"'

To read to full blogpost, go to 'Firm Lady'.

The found sea treasures were on display for one month, before they moved back from Texel to the main land for further research and time to solve important conservation issues. In May of 2016 we went to the Museum Kaap Skil to see The Dress and the other objects. While the dress was impressive then, it was even more impressive 7 years later. 

The Dress and the other objects returned after much research, problems with the divers, who didn't give all the objects right away as was promised, and more research on how to display the objects safely. In a three part docu series 'De jurk en het scheepswrak' {The Dress and the shipwreck} all this leading up towards the final opening at the Museum Kaap Skil is wonderfully shown. It also provides more insights on who the owner, or better wearer of the objects might have been. Only women clothing were found and many objects, like a mirror with comb, suggest it was either going to be a gift, or the wearer was onboard. However due to how it was brought to the surface and since the shipwreck has not been further salvaged, much remains a mystery. So in the permanent exhibition at Kaapskil not much info is shared. Some short videos from different researchers, but no in-depth info. Partly because it is not there and partly I guess to keep it open for later finds. 

Our first holiday of this year, we went camping on Texel so we could go see the dress again. The museum made a special exhibition space to showcase the shipwreck objects, but also updated their other permanent exhibition in which they highlight seafinds according to the different continents with much room for colonial history - really greatly done. 

A must visit, both will be on display for a long time, that is if the special build oxygen free display of The Dress does its work correctly, so go and see!

'Wearing Batik is showing who you are', Wereldverhaal/worldstory for NMvW by me

During our camping trip, my two world stories on Batik got published. One focusses on the making: Worldwide loved and worn but how is Batik made with many photos by me on the making process, next to great images & batiks from the Nationaal Museum voor Wereldculturen/Wereldmuseum. And the other part is on the wearer of Batik; Wearing Batik is showing who you are. Both are in Dutch, but I included many wonderful images, so go check it out!

On the 3 of May I was invited to share on the development of Batik in the 19th century during the webinar on Batik organised by Museum Het Schip. You can watch it back here. Next to the development of Batik, I share also a little bit on the wearers and what stories, even sometimes different historical facts these wearers give us. Watch it back here

For more online content, I want to recommend 'Front and (Off-)Centre: Fashion and Southeast Asia'. I didn't have time to send something in myself, don't know if I would have made it in the program, but there were so many great talks. Spread over two days, 5 & 6 May, Southeast Asian fashion was discussed from a historical point of view, from a more recent past and a longer time ago, zoomed in on modern developments in fashion and there was even room for sustainability activism. It was wonderful to see such a divers group of {new) researchers from Southeast Asia reflecting themselves on Southeast Asian Fashion. A go watch, you find all the recordings here 'Front and (Off-)Centre: Fashion and Southeast Asia'.

Slide from the talk 'Kebaya: The Intersection of Past and Future' by Toton Januar H.N.

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) might not be the first that comes to mind when thinking of a wearer. The unknown poet that stayed at home the last 20 years of her life, who collected bird nests and only wore white. After seeing the stunning series Dickinson I must say I am a little obsessed, not just with the series itself, which is a must see and yes I am late to the party, since it ended in 2021. 

In Dickinson we get to know Emily, her family and friends, some famous writers from that time like Henry David Thoreau of the book 'Walden' and Louisa May Alcott of the book 'Little Women', but also their employee in the house and their seamstress Betty. The pretty unknown reality of Emily's life leaves much room for interpretation and there is a very modern twist to the series. However the era and ongoing historical events are portrayed well and clever with always Emily's poems as a main storyline connecting it all. 

I think why I am so obsessed by it, is because it takes place in a time period I am stuck in a lot with my own research. Von Franquemont lived from 1817 till 1867 and the makers and wearers I am researching now are on Java between 1850 -1900. I also really loved the clothing shown in the series. The story takes places before Emily stopped leaving the house, so we get to see house dresses, party dresses and loads of other beautifully made garments. I am not an expert in historical garments at all, but the whole eye for detail is great. 

When we reached the end of the series, it broke my heart a little and spend some time reading more online. I came across an interesting wearer related find. A photograph, a Daguerreotype, was revealed to be the second known portrait (not yet confirmed) of Emily Dickinson. Not new news, since the finding was shared in 2012, but what was striking to me is that a kept fabric sample at Emily Dickinson Museum is believed to match with what Emily is wearing on the photo. Read the full article here A New Dickinson Daguerreotype?

Hailee Steinfeld stars as the poet Emily Dickinson. Photo: Apple

A joint search by Archives and Museum staff members in the Emily Dickinson Museum's textile collection on April 20, 2010, led to the discovery of at least one fabric sample in a blue check that is a candidate for the dress Dickinson wears. 

* Title for this post from Emily Dickinson poem '“Hope” is the thing with feathers'

Selamat membaca*

Enjoy reading/ Veel leesplezier!

Books 'Misleiden' by Fresco Sam-Sin (2022), 'Studies in Textiel, Leidse Weefsels' 

with article by Jantiene van Elk (2022), 

'De Voormoeders' by Suze Zijlstra (2021) and 'Engel en Kinnari' by Dido Michielsen (2022)

People often ask me: When are you publishing a book? Yes! There are some plans in the making for a publication, but I also learned this last year, you don’t have to write a book to be in one. 

My research made it into several publications, not only with articles by myself, but in other peoples research, in the footnotes and even inspired the title of a novel. 

As a booklover I welcome every excuse to add more books to my collection. Finding my name in a thank you by the author (thank you Suze Zijlstra & Dido Michielsen!) and sources list is just amazing. 

As a creator it is great to find out that what you put out there continues, grows further and can inspire more people to wonder, ask questions and dive into it further! 

In this blogpost some recent publications which includes research by yours truly. Selamat membaca!

In October 2022 the new book 'Engel en Kinnari' by Dido Michielsen was published. When her first novel 'Lichter dan ik' came out, I contacted her to talk about the role Batik played in her book for the online webseries Batik Consultation. We stayed in touch, hoping we could work together on a project on the Batiks she owns. Her book 'Lichter dan ik' got made into a theaterplay in which the actors wore custom made outfits by Guave from Batik Lasem bought by me. The book got translated in Bahasa Indonesia with the title 'Lebih putih dariku'. 

When Dido started writing her latest book, the follow-up on 'Lichter dan ik', I shared some of my research with her on the batik industry in Pekalongan and imitation batik around 1900. In my article on the collection of Dr. Elie van Rijckevorsel kept at the Wereldmuseum in Rotterdam, I share about a batik that has angels (engel) on it, but that very well can be kinnari's, a half bird half human Hindu god. When Dido shared with me her suggested cover, I couldn't believe my eyes. In big letters it said 'Engel en Kinnari' on top of a photo of her mother and grandmother. I never thought my research would ever inspire parts in a book, let alone the actual title, amazing!

Page on Fake batik from the book 'Misleiden'

In April 2022 the book 'Misleiden' was published as a catalog of the exhibition with the same title (Misleading) that was held at De Lakenhal in Leiden. Things That Talk Fresco Sam-Sin curated the exhibition and wrote most of the book, apart from some short articles by researcher. In the book all the misleading objects from different collection in Leiden come together to share the story on deceiving, misguiding and deluding. My research on imitation batiks, or as I prefer fake batik fit right in there.  

In the book you can read about the fake batiks made by, in this case, De Leidsche Katoenmaatschappij (LKM). On Things That Talk you can read more about this also in my zone 'Fabric(s) of Leiden' in both Dutch and English. Cees de Jonge made great photos of my selected objects, two samplebooks and letters, that illustrate the book and the website of Thing Thats Talk very nicely!

Photographer Cees de Jonge making a picture of the 'Fabricage' book of L.A. Driessen 

in the library of the Textielmuseum in Tilburg

Jantiene van Elk of the library of the Textielmuseum in Tilburg reached out to me about the talk she would give about the Leidsche Katoenmaatschappij during the yearly Spring symposium of the Textielcommissie in April 2022. Unfortunately the timetable didn't allow us to do a duo talk and I eventually couldn't go to the day also. 

For the publication of the Textielcommissie 'Studies in Textiel' Jantiene made an article based on her talk 'De familie Driessen en de Leidsche Katoenmaatschappij, Reizen in de negentiende eeuw' and in it she refers to my research for Things That Talk (see also the previous book). So lovely! 

We are continuing with this interesting history of LKM and the Driessen family. For upcoming Thing That Talk stories me and Cees de Jonge went last week to the library to make photos of some related objects, so soon more online about that! And hopefully more, to be continued!

Article by Maarten Fornerod on 'the man in the batik pants'

in the January issue of Moesson 

Hot of the press, not a book, but never the less fitting in this blog. In this months Moesson the theme is Boekoe (Buku = books) and unrelated to the theme a part of my research made it into this number. During the Tong Tong Fair I reached out to Pasar Malam college Maarten Fornerod. Maarten is our Dutch expert for Indo-European and Dutch East Indies genealogy. Since I was wondering about a certain someone I found in photos in my research, I asked him to take a look. I found this man, always with moustache and in the exhibition in batikpants, in three photoalbums kept at the Tropenmuseum, but wasn't able to find his name. Already the same day, I believe, Maarten had found him. This story and discovery is shared in a nice article by Maarten himself, Jing Jing Detektif, in this month Moesson. 

The best wishes for 2023! Have a good year of the Rabbit!

Fangirling over Oey Soe Tjoen

 

Recently published books on Oey Soe Tjoen, 

'Oey Soe Tjoen - Duta Batik Peranakan' by Pak William Kwan Hwie Liong 

and the special edition of 'Oey Soe Tjoen - Merajut Asa Dalam Sejuta Impian' 

that came in the black box with red bow

On a Batik tulis by KUB Srikandi in the style of Oey Soe Tjoen

High on my wish-list of must-visit and must buy is Batikworkshop Oey Soe Tjoen. In the realm of Batik this is a very well-known name. It is one of the few Batikworkshops that is strongly connected to colonial history and still produces high quality high demand Batiks today.

I was planning to write on this for a while. I got two books in beginning of December and I was like, I will write when I have time to sit down and read them. Because I have a lot of reading and data processing going on for my researchproject next to starting up 4 collaboration projects, I did not manage to do more than flipping through the books. So today I though, I will just start this post and make this shout out to the third generation successor of Oey Soe Tjoen, Widianti Widjaja, nickname Kiem Lian. 

A few books from my collection which mention Oey Soe Tjoen, 

'Batik Design ' by Pepin Roojen, 'Batik Creating an Identity' by Lee Chor Lin, 

'Batik Belanda 1840-1940 - Dutch influence in Batik from Java, History and Stories' by H.C. Veldhuisen and 'De Batikkerij Van Zuylen' te Pekalongan

First a little more about Oey Soe Tjoen, Buketan & books. The first book I bought on Batik, 'Batik Creating an Identity' by Lee Chor Lin, included beautiful pieces by Oey Soe Tjoen and every book I bought after that. Even the books that were more focussed on Indo-European influence on Batik like 'Batik Belanda' by Veldhuisen and 'Fabric of Enchantment'. This has in a large part to do with the use of the 'Buketan' motif, the bouquet of (wild) flowers, on many of the Oey Soe Tjoen Batiks. The Oey Soe Tjoen family have always been working with Batik. At the end of the 19th century it starts with Oey Khing Tik and his wife, Siauw Tik Nio, as the first generation. The couple worked as batik traders. They did not make their own batik, but purchased Batik Kain and sarongs directly from pembatiks living in the Kedungwuni region, and re-sold them. Eventually they started producing their own batiks; Tulis, Cap and Kombinasi (Combination of Tulis and Cap). Their son Oey Soe Tjoen followed in their footsteps. Oey Soe Tjoen began to learn the business at a young age by helping his parents. He married in 1925 with Kwee Tjoen Giok Nio (more often called Kwee Nettie). Kwee Tjoen Giok Nio parents sold natural dye materials. In the beginning Oey Soe Tjoen would have used natural dyes, but their batiks are far better known for their bright colours in synthetic dyes.***

Oey Soe Tjoen started making imitations of the very popular motif ‘Buketan’, bouquet, after the designs of Indo-European Batik entrepreneurs Eliza van Zuylen (1863-1947). From the beginning of the 20th century until today the Buketan motif is very populair on Batiks from Pekalongan (ID). The tradition was starting, according to Dutch scholars, by Eliza van Zuylen, nickname Lies, and her sister Christina van Zuylen, nickname Tina. Tina's husband had a shop from which he sold school supplies, while his wife Tina sold floral arrangements aka bouquets. At some point they added Batik to their items to sell and when this went well Lien Metzelaar, another famous Batik entrepreneur, 'lent' Tina three Batikmakers. Elisa van Zuylen at some point also got three Batikmakers and around 1900's made a workshop at the Heerenstraat.* Eliza van Zuylen, or Tina, might have been the inventors of the Buketan motif, it was the Peranakan-Chinese Batik entrepreneurs in the same region who brought it to another level, and Oey Soe Tjoen was one of them. He added his own effect to the design creating a kind of shade in the flowers leaves. A story goes that Van Zuylen tried to create this effect herself but couldn’t.*** Emphasised in this juicy quote from 'Fabric of Enchantment': "While Oey started by imitating Lies van Zuylen's bouquets, he is the one who created a unique three-dimensional effect, which was perfectly copied by other Peranakan entrepreneurs {...}Van Zuylen herself tried to imitate the effect after 1935 for a Peranakan customer but did not succeed".*

After Oey Soe Tjoen died in 1976, his son, Muljadi Widjaja, and daughter-in-law, Istianti Setiono, ran the shop with his widow Kwee, still signing the batiks with Oey’s name. Kwee passed away in 1996, leaving the business to the second generation to run it further.
Muljadi Widjaja and Istianti Setiono had three children. Their daughter Widianti Widjaja was born on November 23, 1976, and was taught the dyeing techniques by her father. Muljadi Widjaja passed away in 2002 and the family business was carried on by his widow Istianti Setiono. 
Today the batikworkshop is run by their daughter Widianti Widjaja and she continued producing the classic Batiks in the legacy of her parents and grandparents. She experiments with developing new designs, but always including the aesthetic elements that had become the trademark of Oey Soe Tjoen Batik.***

Pagi-Sore Batik by Oey Soe Tjoen in the exhibition 'Kruispunt Rotterdam' in Wereldmuseum

With going to the Oey Soe Tjoen workshop on my wish-list and returning to Java being somewhere in the future, I got very excited when the news came a book on Oey Soe Tjoen would be published, again. The first book that was written on this Batikworkshop was by no other than my Batik-mentor Pak William Kwan. It was only published only limited edition and sold out before I knew it was out. Luckily last year the book got re-published and also a new book was made. I could swap the two Oey Soe Tjoen books with two Dutch published books on Batik. I managed to get the special edition and when I opened it, I literally screamed of joy! The book includes a small Batik by Oey Soe Tjoen! So although I couldn't visit and shop at the workshop, I did get one! I am still over the moon with it!

I mentioned Widianti Widjaja, the current boss of Oey Soe Tjoen, also in my recent previous post 'Taking Batik Online' and she truly is part of the current online development we see in Batik. Next to being a guest in all kinds of Zooms and IG lives, she uses her own social media to post pictures and video of the making process. Which is an amazing thing. The quality of her work is very high. She has Batikmakers, but she makes Batik herself and does the entire dye-process. Very similar to Ibu Ramini of Batikworkshop KUB Srikandi. They are not bosses, they are Batik! And it is amazing to get in invite in this process through the internet. And not by someone who visits, but by Widianti herself! So go check it out on www.instagram.com/widianti_lian/

At the moment in the Wereldmuseum in Rotterdam one amazing piece from the Oey Soe Tjoen workshop is on display in the new semi-permanent exhibition 'Kruispunt Rotterdam'. It opened in September 2020, but the museum has hardly been open. Although the textiles on display will be changed, I hope we still can see the current picked pieces. The Batik by Oey Soe Tjoen was bought, or ordered to be precise, by the former textile conservator of the Wereldmuseum during a travel & collect journey she made on Java in 1968. Because I was involved in the selection process of the Indonesian textile pieces for this exhibition, I got to see this Batik up-close and it still has the price label on it! It is displayed with this to the wall, which is for me odd, because often signed/tagged/stamped pieces by Indo-European Batik entrepreneurs, as mentioned before, would have been displayed with their signature in full sight... So I share the pictures I took in the depot of the signature, labels and stamps here below:

Stamp & signature on Pagi-Sore Batik currently on display at Wereldmuseum

Original sticker and label with the price it was bought for in 1968

With Batik history how it is shared in the Netherlands, it is interesting how a Batikworkshop as huge and important as Oey Soe Tjoen mainly gets mentioned in comparison, however the Oey Soe Tjoen legacy still exists and flourish today! And I am so happy it is being celebrated, with books, exhibitions and online!

To enjoy more Widianti Widjaja, check out the IG interview aNERDspective 30 by aNERDgallery. On the website of aNERDgallery you find the full interview written out in English. 

And on IG Live with Widianti Widjaja on Lawasan Batik

And on Youtube in the recent webinar 'Batik: Warisan Budaya Peranakan - Nggosipin Tionghoa Yuk! Pertemuan Keduapuluhsembilan' 

or here in an interview done by Weltmuseum, 'Jani Kuhnt-Saptodewo in an interview with Descendants of Oey Soe Tjoen'

To enjoy more Oey Soe Tjoen, buy the books, also through aNERDgallery, or look at the pieces in the NMvW collection

or in the online exhibition 'Singapore, Sarong Kebaya and Style: Peranakan Fashion - Discover the style of the Peranakan – a hybrid of interactions between people from Asia and Europe' on Google Arts & Culture

To read more about the Buketan motif, check out my previous post 'Pattern Edition Batik Statement: Buketan'

* From 'Fabric of Enchantment' and 'De batikkerij Van Zuylen'

** Blogpost title 'Fangirling over'; a girl or woman who is an extremely or overly enthusiastic fan of someone or something. fangirl. verb. fangirled; fangirling; fangirls.

*** Information from Pak William Kwan as mentioned in his book Oey Soe Tjoen - Duta Batik Peranakan