A flowing red cloth from one of Batik Danar Hadi collections (Photo source: Batik Danar Hadi)

Asti Soerjanto, is the Assistant Manager and Assistant Curator in Museum Batik Danar Hadi. She graduated from Law Faculty in Gajah Mada University, but she decided to help her mother setting up Museum Batik Danar Hadi. She already worked in the museum for more than 20 years and have not looked back since.

In this episode of aNERDspective (our NERD talk show where we converse with amazing friends about their textile adventure and perspectives), we talked to Asti about how she first fell in love in batik, her role as an assistant manager and assistant curator and what are are the transformation from the “dark, scary place” to an education source for the younger generations.

Note: This transcript has been edited for reading format.

Tony Sugiarta: Welcome Bu Asti to another episode of aNERDspective today. How are you doing?

Asti Soerjanto: Thank you very much for this precious opportunity, Pak Tony.

As one of our itinerary when we did a textile trip to Solo, we always drop by Museum Batik Danar Hadi and we are always flabbergasted and impressed by the collection.

Thank you very much.

And I always received complaints that however long, they can never finish in one day. So, there is always not enough time.

The museum has 12 rooms. So, you should explore it for maybe 3-4 hours. If you enjoy and love batik, this museum will give you a beautiful perspective of course.

Yes, exactly. And now, since we cannot go over there and we would like to find out more about you, the museum, and how the museum is doing in this pandemic. First of all, before we go into details about the museum, maybe you can give us a short introduction about yourself and how you landed up in Museum Batik Danar Hadi.

I graduated from Law Faculty in Gajah Mada University. People are always wondering, if Bu Asti is from the Law faculty, why is she working at the museum?

There is a little bit of a funny story. My mother is the head of Batik Research Institute, a government institution in Yogyakarta. She retired in 1997. After she retired, Mr. Santoso offered her to become a curator and to manage his collections. My mum was already involved in batik for more than 30 years, (although) she graduated from Chemical Engineering.

After she retires, Mr. Santoso hires her. She does not have a clue about the younger generation who would like to join her. That time, in 1999-2000, when you had a conversation with Indonesian young generation about museums, their imagination (that it) will be a spooky place, very dark, very dirty, and the guides are very old. So, it is not attractive for them. As my mum had difficulty hiring employees to help her, my mum offered me to work with her. (Prior), back in the 1995-1998, I was working as a lawyer in Jakarta. I was a junior lawyer for non-litigation, which means I did not go to the court and only did the consultation.

When she first asked me, my thought was the same with other young generations, a museum is a dark and spooky place, etc. But, the person who asked me is my mum. I am the only daughter and am also the eldest child in the family. If I refuse, I would be a sinner who says no to the person who gave birth to you. In the end, I told my mum that I will help her, but maybe for only one or two years. My mum is disappointed because she thought that I will work with her as long as I can.

Then I went to Solo with my mum, to Mr. Santoso’s residence. They were talking so many things about batik, which is not my interest. We went to this building (ed.: Museum Batik Danar Hadi building). Back then, the structure was already done but the set up and everything were not ready yet. When I went to this place for the first time, I thought that this is a different museum. The next week, when I met Mr. Santoso and he gave details about batik, the process, etc. He is very competent in the batik. So, I said to myself that I will help my mum for one or two years, maybe or more, let’s see what will happen.

When I was working in Jakarta as a lawyer, I met many people from all over the world, because Jakarta is the capital of Indonesia. I could meet a client from abroad, which I enjoy because I love to speak English. Even though at that time my grammar or pronunciation was not good, I tried to speak to them. When my mother asked me to work in the museum, my imagination about Indonesian museums was not good. I thought I cannot meet tourists because they are not interested in things like this. But I was wrong.

Mr. Santoso’s collection is very huge and beautiful, and of course with the combination of my mum’s ability to set up and to make a detailed interpretation of the collections, this museum becomes very different compared to other batik museums in Indonesia. This is the only private batik museum in Indonesia. Mr. Santoso was a little bit worried, in 1998 or early 2000, when our neighbor “claimed” that batik is made by them too, but actually it is very different.

After I worked with my mum, Mr. Santoso decided that he would like to set up a batik museum and he also would like to make a batik book. In early 2000, most of the books were written by people from abroad. I helped my mum as a typist. I typed my mum’s script which came from Mr. Santoso. My mum was the editor and I was the typist. It was like making a paper. If there was something wrong, I gave it to my mum and my mum gave it to Mr. Santoso.

My basics is from the law faculty and most of the students who graduated from law faculty, they can memorise a lot of books because that is our field. So, before we made a book, we did some research. I went to the North Coast of Java with my mum. It was me, my mum, one driver, and one person from Jakarta. We went to all batik centres in Java and also Madura. We did an interview and my role was to type. After we finished the research, Mr. Santoso published the book entitled Batik: Pengaruh Zaman dan Lingkungan and also available in English Batik: The Impact of Time and Environment.

The museum was opened on 20 October 2000. One year after the museum was opened, we launched the book and it was sold out. I think nowadays, Mr. Santoso is trying to publish it again. But there is a problem because at that time it was not a digital era. We did not take pictures like now, but we used roll film. But we will try because the book can make the image of Danar Hadi better.

After I agreed to help my mum, till now, for 21 years, I have been helping her. I love batik. That is something that opens my heart and my mind. Not only I helped my mum but I am also helping Surakarta. Even though it is only a small contribution for batik, it opens up the mind of visitors from abroad about Indonesian batik that it is different.

That is how I worked in Museum Batik Danar Hadi. At first, I did not like working here because I cannot meet and chat with people from foreign countries. But I was 100% wrong.

When I was working in this museum, I also went to other museums, for example Asian Civilisation Museum in Singapore in 2019. We joined the exhibition when they celebrated the 100 years of the arrival of Raffles. They borrowed four of our collections. In the end, I can go to Singapore, Jim Thompson (Art Centre) in Bangkok. For me, God is working in a special way to open up my mind.

So, you actually joined the museum almost at the same time when the museum opened?

Yes. I remember when I was working alone, as a guide, helping my mum, manage administration, etc. But back then we only had five rooms. Since 2015, Mr. Santoso has expanded the museum to 12 rooms. I am happy because my mum and I can recruit the younger generation. All of my staff and guides are below 30. When we are recruiting them, the requirement is maximum 24 years old. Why do we recruit the younger generation? Because when the younger generation visits this museum and when the person who guides them has a different tone and perspective, they will not come again to the museum. So, we changed it. The exhibition in this museum comes from the old era, but how we present it, display it, it is different. This is also why Mr. Santoso did not put pieces of batik inside glass boxes.

When do you get interested in batik?

When I accompanied my mum in the field research for the book, I met women in so many villages. Even though they cannot read and write, they make a piece of batik with happiness even if they do not sell it with an expensive price. When they receive some money, they will buy something for their family. Even though they did not finish their school or did not go to school at all.

So, I was asking myself, “Asti, in Indonesia, women who have a chance to study in a university are less than 20% or 15%. You have a chance to study in Gajah Mada University, a government university, which most of the younger generation would like to enter. You are a Javanese, what is your role to preserve batik? What is your role to make your mum happy?”

After that field research and I went back to the office, I told my mum that I think I will help her in every way for more than 3 or 5 years, I will try to help forever, if possible. My mum was very happy and she told me that I will not be disappointed about it if I learn it seriously. That is what makes me fall in love with batik.

When I am working with Mr. Santoso, he is very consistent and disciplined. He has a plan, not only business but work as scheduled. My mum and Mr. Santoso are my teachers. From them, I know about batik. Until now I am also still learning because I was not born from a school that teaches about batik and (I was) not from a batik family, so I am still learning. Indonesian young generation should be proud because after UNESCO declared batik as an intangible heritage, it became more important to Indonesia to preserve this batik. One of the missions of this museum is to preserve and also to develop Indonesian batik.

The exhibition in this museum comes from the old era, but how we present it, display it, it is different.

You mentioned that the museum started from five rooms and expanded to 12 rooms. How many collections are there?

Now we have 1,253 collections. We display them based on the theme of the book Batik: the Impact of Time and Environment. Actually Mr. Santoso collected batik since he studied in Bandung, I think before 1967. He developed Danar Hadi in 1967. At that time, he already collected batik from his grandparents and also bought some collections from other collectors. Now, he has almost more than 10,000 batik collections and we only display 1,253 collections, only 10% of the total collections. Our plan is to rotate collections once a year or twice a year but with the same concept.

So, it will be about the same flow but different pieces.

Yes, that is right.

When you enter the museum there is a lobby and the first room is Batik Kraton / Batik Palace which is made and developed inside a palace. The princess and the wives of the King made those pieces.

That is upon entry and then you will be treated to different rooms throughout different ages. One of the exciting one is, since we are live from the museum, is this room that has the photos of Mr. Santoso and his family.

Yes. Not everyone knows why he named the company Danar Hadi (since his name is Santoso). So, Danar is the name of Mrs. Santoso. Her name is Danarsih. Hadi is the parent-in-law of Mr. Santoso, Hadi Priyono. When Mr. Santoso started the business, Mr. Hadi Priyono, father of Mrs. Danarsih, give Mr. Santoso a bunch of cotton to start his business. Because he respects his parents-in-law and because he thinks that a man could not be successful without the support of the wife, he named the company Danar Hadi and there is “Santoso” written only in small text.

Danar Hadi was developed in 1967, and Mr. Santoso’s great-grandparents are already involved in batik. When he was in junior high school, he lived with his grandparents because his mother died at a young age. Every morning, before he went to school he met with the people who make batik. He socialised and met people who made stamps. After school, he played with them. I think that made Mr. Santoso more in love with batik. Everyday, little Santoso met people who were involved and made batik. That is the reason why the design department is directly under Mr. Santoso’s supervision until now.

He will be 80 years old on this 7 December. Yes, he was born on the same day when Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. He is still working with the design staff. If the person working in the office, do not imagine that Mr. Santoso works with the shirt or a necktie. He works in t-shirts and sarong. He will sit in the front with the design staff around him and he will give them the instructions. Just as simple as that, but at the end of the day, there will be a beautiful piece, either from the composition of the design or the colours, etc. So for me, he is not only a businessman but also an artist because he can combine colours, I cannot imagine how he did that.

Coming back to the museum, how do you transform that dark and scary place into what it is today?

Actually Mr. Santoso (is the one) who transformed the place because he knew that most museums in Indonesia, especially textiles, put pieces inside the glass box. For batik, if you put it in a glass box, you cannot see the details, from the main design and small motifs. So, he displayed it like a gallery and he put so many chandeliers. So when visitors come, the museum will be brighter.

For my staff (guides) to explain to the visitor, I asked them to not only explain about batik but make it attractive. The visitors can ask you and you can give an answer, unlike a teacher who teaches in schools. In my era, when I was in school, teachers would feel like they were always correct. When we had different perspectives, the teacher would give me a bad score. So, Mr. Santoso changed that.

I always told my guide to become professional. When the museum opens at 9am, we should be ready 15-30 minutes prior. The museum should be cleaned, no dirt or spider. When you are working in the museum, you should work with your heart and soul. If you are not enjoying it, the visitors also will not enjoy it because it does not come from your heart, from how you explain it and how you have a conversation(, the guests can feel it.)

When you are working (in the museum), you should work with your heart and soul.

How many guides do you have?

Now, I have five guides, 3 men and 2 women. I am very proud of them because they learn fast and their basics and knowledge are not from faculties to learn about batik and textiles. Most of them graduated from English department. The most important thing when we recruit them is that they should speak English fluently because most of the guests, before COVID, are from abroad. They knew that Danar Hadi from TripAdvisor, etc.

English is number one. I told the Human Resources Development Manager, if you would like to have a guide who does not only speak English, you should raise the salary and you will get them easier. It makes sense. You want to have more capability, so you should pay them more. That is the rule.

If you can share a little bit about your roles and day-to-day activities of what you do?

As I am not only an assistant manager but also an assistant curator, I should check the cleanliness of the collection and, once a week, we have a briefing and discussion. Since one or two months ago, we also have Instagram operated again because in my opinion, this is very important to influence the young generation to make them know that Danar Hadi museum is different. It is not like the museum in their mind.

If there are students who come to the museum (to research) making paper or thesis. After they visit the museum and take pictures, there will be a discussion as they will have questions that maybe I can answer. If I cannot give the answer, I will ask my mum to answer the question.

If there is an exhibition, I am responsible for Mr. Santoso’s collections, the insurance, etc. I will bring 1 or 2 of my staff to an exhibition which is very interesting to avoid them feeling bored. I take them to open up their minds about other museums in the world, not in Indonesia. Outside Indonesia, the museums are very different. In Indonesia,  there may be only private museums which manage in a good way.

Two times in one year, we give product knowledge for sales promoters and also the supervisor of the showroom. Beside the museum, Batik Danar Hadi has showrooms all over Indonesia. So it is our job. I will bring my mother to give product knowledge to the sales people about batik. If there are customers who ask why the price is varied, they can explain that it is because of the different process – how many colours are applied in one piece, how we colour, for example by dipping or direct brushing, the dyeing with either for chemical dyes or natural dyes. So that they (are able to) explain it to the customers. In the mind of most Indonesians, Danar Hadi is an expensive batik. It is wrong because there are expensive batik and middle class batik,etc. It depends on the process. It is not fair if you compare printed batiks from Pasar Klewer in Solo and Danar Hadi Batik which are made by tulis. You should compare things that are of the same process.

Sometimes, I also help Marketing & Communication for coverage from television. Television will contact Marcomms but after that, the person who will speak in front of the camera is either me or my staff.

Do you work with school as well, in terms of socialising and education?  

Sometimes yes, we have collaborations with senior high schools in Solo.

But because of this pandemic, the number of visitors decreased. Before the pandemic, one day there are at least 20-25 individual visitors, not in a group. But nowadays, in one day the maximum (number of visitors) is only 19. It happened on Monday, 31 May, because the previous and the next day are holidays in Indonesia. It is the highest number of visitors since January. Prior, there are only 2-5 people in one day. I hope, with the vaccination, everybody will go out. Museums are safer than going to the mall.

Overall, how is the pandemic affecting the museum?

When the pandemic started on Sunday, 15 March 2020, the government said that tourism destinations should be closed. On 16 March, actually we had a group from Malaysia, but we had to close. We were closed for two and a half months and my staff were staying at home. But Mr. Santoso gave instructions for the office boy to clean things in the museum and they still came to the office with my supervision.

We opened again in June. We have a collaboration with Marcomm to make virtual tours because we should use IT or social media. Now you can see it on Youtube. We also made a teaser about Danar Hadi. Mr.. Santoso is very proud of this museum so he tries to make sure that my staff is not fired.

We should fight and not give up in this pandemic. Earlier this month, the visitors already went up a little bit. Every day there are visitors now, starting in March or May. Before that, for 5 days, there were no visitors. I told my staff of the younger generation to not give up and we should try, (for example,) to activate Instagram with their language. I will give the description of the batik but how to speak in Instagram should be their (language).

So, these are some of the activities or initiatives that you do during the pandemic.

Yes. If we are having a briefing, I give them a room, a space to talk to me about their idea or mindset about something. My mum taught me that a person who knows more does not always know everything. Sometimes, this young generation with their perspective may give us, the old people, how to translate these things to become loved by the younger generation.

Sometimes there are invitations from the Surakarta Department of Tourism and then I tell my staff that one of them should go, not always me. So they should meet them and get to know each other. It also makes them get bored and just stay in the office. So I gave my staff a chance to meet people outside. It is important to increase the knowledge about the batik but also it is important for them to know people outside, to interact and to socialize.

What are some of the challenges that you face while running the museum?

My challenge: not all of my colleagues, including the finance manager, HRD manager understand the value of this museum for Mr. Santoso & Mrs. Danarsih and also for Danar Hadi, for Surakarta, for Central Java, and for Indonesia.

Last week, the manager of HRD asked me to reduce (number of) the office boys. I told him to wait and I will ask Mr. Santoso first because this museum is directly under his authority. Mr. Santoso told me not to do that. We have 12 rooms with 1,253 collections, in one day only 5 can go to this office. Their job is to clean the batik with the brush one. by. one. And then vacuuming the tiles and stains. If you reduce it to 3 and in one day only 2 people (comes in), it will be crazy.

From the finance manager, every year, we need 40 million for this museum, but the maximum income is only 51 million and sometimes it is less than that, it may be minus. If there was a guest, for example, the ambassador from Armenia visited the museum, she looked around and was amazed. She was asking if they can have some kind of cooperation (ed.: collaboration). There is an advantage. The only batik company in Indonesia that builds a museum is only Danar Hadi. Young generations nowadays are not stupid. They will admire how Mr. Santoso gave his contribution to preserve and to develop the batik. It is not always reflected on the finance (balance sheet) because sometimes the brand of Danar Hadi will give you an impact.

(Another) example, after we have a collaboration with the Asian Civilisations Museum in Singapore, the visitors from Singapore are increasing. It is because they have our collection and brochure over there and they come to visit the museum. After visiting the museum, they will buy something in our showroom because this is an integrated tourism destination, there is also a restaurant. It is not always about money. Entrance tickets are only 35,000 IDR (~3.30SGD, 2.50 USD) for the public and 15,000 for students. This is the contribution of Mr. Santoso and Batik Danar Hadi to preserve and develop the batik as an intangible cultural heritage. So, that is my big challenge.

Definitely, the perception of a museum cannot be evaluated only from financial (POV).

Yes. After Mr. Santoso (publishes) the first book, Channel News Asia also interviewed Mr. Santoso in his house after we launched Batik: Pengaruh Zaman dan Lingkungan. They come to the showroom. Also, the uniform of the security guard from Mr. Jokowi was also ordered from Batik Danar Hadi, even though it was from our showroom in Jakarta. So, the museum gives a positive perspective for other people and society.

Is that how you get involved with Asian Civilisations Museum? Can you share a little bit about the exhibition with Asian Civilisations Museum?

They ask us again to join the exhibition in 2022. I was amazed by them because after that exhibition they decided to make a new room that displays batik. There are two batik collections that were worn by my mum and my dad when they were getting married. Now, it is already displayed at Asian Civilisations Museum. They insist on buying it after seeing my mum’s wedding picture because now they will build a room that displays batik. The batik motif is named Sidomukti. There is a picture of my mum and dad getting married in that room beside the collection. In 2022, they will launch that room and invite us. They also ask Danar Hadi Batik Museum to bring some collections that show the Circle of Life of Javanese society. I hope this COVID will disappear.

I guess that is one of your proudest and happiest moments to be working with Danar Hadi museum to be able to learn directly from Mr. Santoso.

Yes, directly from Mr. Santoso. Before 2015, the factory was behind this museum so every morning after Mr. Santoso finished his working in the factory, he always came to the museum and this was my advantage because I could ask anything about batik or his journey. He also loves it if there is a person asks him about batik. The (perception) that Mr. Santoso is a very disciplined, or a hard (to talk to), person, is wrong. It is just according to your topic. If the topic is about batik, he will explain it to you almost the whole day.

Definitely will be looking forward to if we have a chance to meet him.

What are some of the upcoming projects or exciting stuff that we can expect from Museum Batik Danar Hadi in the near future?

We are preparing for that collaboration with Asian Civilisations Museum. On National Batik Day, on 2 October in Indonesia, there will always be an exhibition but I do not know (the theme) for this year. Last year, the title was ‘Tribute to Jawa Dwipa 2020’. We had an exhibition and displayed it in the pendopo. You can also find it on Youtube. For this year, I do not know the planning for the exhibition yet. But for sure, every 2 October there will be an exhibition and I hear that there will be product knowledge (training)in September or October.

I hope the visitors will go up and not make us just (keep on) waiting and waiting. But I enjoy this invitation from aNERDgallery because I can introduce the museum to people who do not know about  Batik Danar Hadi yet. It is a museum which is different from others. It is not a smoky place, and the guides are young and how they explain is not boring.

We are looking forward to the National Batik Day exhibition. I guess it will be virtual as well.

Yes, it is a good idea. I agree. We have an exhibition and we have a virtual (session) in the room where we exhibit it special for National Batik Day.

What are some closing remarks or messages, hopes that you have for Museum Batik Danar Hadi?

Especially for the young audience. Batik may come from the old era but we can present it differently. For example, my blouse in green colour, if this blouse in brown colour for sure it will be boring. So it depends on how we present it.

For Indonesian young generation, the rule of the batik is very important. It can enrich the culture of Indonesia and you should study. Like me, in the beginning, I also did not know anything about batik, but I tried. When I know more in depth, I fall in love with batik, the same with wayang or keris. This is Indonesian culture. We have so much culture and we should fight (to preserve it). You should have the spirit, stay safe and do not give up.

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  Museum Batik Danar Hadi’s Instagram for the latest updates.

Photo credit: Museum Batik Danar Hadi, unless stated otherwise.