Silang, one of batikTEKTURA’s creations, in an array of colours. 

Long-time friends Yez Yusof and Azrina Lasa co-founded batikTEKTURA in 2018. What started as an creative outlet to escape the mundane, they now provide a unique refreshed version of Malaysian batik. They uses architectural concepts and elements to set their designs apart from the other batik in the market. While frontrunning contemporary, design, they so still work with batik makers in Kuala Terengganu to produce batik with the traditional stamping technique.

In this episode of aNERDspective (our NERD talk show where we converse with amazing friends about their textile adventure and perspectives), we talked to Azrina and Yez about their journey in starting up batikTEKTURA and how they blend architecture into batik.

Note: This transcript has been edited for reading format.

Tony Sugiarta: Welcome Azrina and Yez to today’s episode of a aNERDspective. How are you guys doing? 

Azrina Lasa: I am good. We are still in MCO (Malaysian Government Movement Control Order), which is the restriction that we have that we stay at home. So, we cannot cross district. We cannot cross states, but we are fine. As you know, the COVID cases are in a pretty bad state right now. So, we are staying put. We conduct our businesses from home, do a lot of engagements at home, but for me I am good. How about you, Yez?

Yez Yusof: We are all good here in Kuala Terengganu. It is just that I cannot go to the beach because the beach is off now because you are still in MCO. So, hopefully they will lift our MCO by next week. I am in a different state and the numbers (of people) here are pretty low. So, there is a high chance they will leave the MCO fastest next week. 

We stay positive ya.

Are you guys living in the same state?

I am 400km away from Azrina, it is about a six hours drive. 

We will be talking a little bit more about how you guys work long distance and all. So, I actually talked to Ummi Junid about batik and natural dyes a couple of weeks ago and then we were talking and I would love to know, because of the discussion between Indonesia and Malaysia batik, I just would like to talk to the Malaysian batik practitioners. Who else (can I) talk to, and then she gave some accounts. I looked at batikTEKTURA’s accounts and the motifs are really unique because they are neither traditional Malaysian or traditional Indonesian. That is something that I would like to learn more about today. And before we discuss further, would you be able to introduce a little bit more about yourself and how you encounter batik and fall in love with it?

I am Azrina and I came from a corporate background and, at that time, my soul was feeling that I needed an outlet to express all the daily stress of being a banker. So, I remember when I was young, I always went out with my mom to look for textiles, to make baju kurung. Those were the happiest moments of my life. I really enjoy looking at textiles, looking at colours, patterns, and I felt that I need that kind of outlet for myself.

I do not have any design background, any textile background, or fashion background. So, I had to think if I want to do something on fabric, on textile, what would it be? Because we have our Malaysian batik. Batik is actually a technique that is quite accessible to a lot of people, you can just do it at your home, in your own backyard, you do not have to have the proper machinery or equipment to do it.

So, I started and wanted to explore. I started thinking that I should explore doing batik as a creative outlet, so I would not feel so stressed out. I thought about who I could collaborate with, to actually start this little tiny project with me and I called Yez. She was like, “Hey, I am with you.” I just had to explain to her for two minutes and she was, “let’s do it!”

It started as a passion project. We did a little batch for ourselves or our family, but then word got around, from our family, extended family friends, and it got bigger. The media started interviewing. We got a little bit of a boom, and here we are now. But as of now, we are still doing it on a part-time basis because we work. Moving forward, we want to make it more of our full-time entrepreneurial work and something that we want to take it to another level. Yez, you want to add anything to that? How did I sound when I talked to you on the first day?

I am Yez, friends called me Yez. I am a professional architect by profession. I run a small firm here in Kuala Terengganu. I am actually from PJ (Petaling Jaya). Me and Azrina, we went to the same secondary school, and then we were sent to the same boarding school in Taiping, Perak for two years. And again, we went to the same A levels college in the UK. So, we have been together for quite some time. In fact, in the UK, we were housemates, so it is always me and Azrina doing stuff. We have been quite close for some time already. 

Then, we split up for university and I did not meet her again until 2012. There was a reunion so we got reconnected again that time. In 2016 or 2017, I was already practicing (architecture), because I did not start practicing until 2015. I was actually drawing something and then she called me and then she goes, “I am bored with what I am wearing right now, etc. Can you design something for me?”

So, I told her, actually I had this idea because it was just before the fasting months when she called me up. I said, I have always wanted to do batik hijab. I said, “Yeah, maybe we can get together and think about it and produce something.” I think I went to Kuala Lumpur to see her at a mall. We were just discussing over some coffee and we think of a name and what we want to do. That is how we got started. 

My mom is from Kuala Terengganu. She was born and bred here. When I was a little girl, whenever we come back to Kuala Terengganu, she would always take me to Pasar Payang and we would just go shopping for batik. Because my mom is somebody who likes these traditional crafts, we would go to the batik workshops in the villages. 

When I was young, there were many, many small workshops everywhere, so she would go from one workshop to another workshop and she would have her design custom made. I have been introduced to batik since I was small and when we were in boarding school, I took batik as my arts elective. Then I stopped doing batik for quite some time. When I came back here, I think in 2012, I started my batik. I started off with drawing and painting batik. It was batik painting, not on fabric, but I always liked doing sceneries and stuff like that. Then I stopped because I almost burned my kitchen. Until Azrina called me again in 2016 or 2017. We started again. 

And you asked just now, how do we work long distances? Well, because most of my families are back in KL, so I normally go to KL like once a month. And whenever I am in KL, that is when we meet up.

I like the amazing chemistry that you guys have and everything just like clicking when you just rekindle. And in 2016, when you guys work together. 

It is a combination. I wanted to have a creative project, to create something different for ourselves, something different for what I wear to work at the time and I see a lot of people wearing normal high street work clothes. So, I wanted to create something different for myself. And also, I want it to be something that I have on the side that I think about other than just my banking work, which is I do not want to think about that too much.

So eventually I was drawn to it more and more rather than all banking work. It became more exciting. Actually, the more we got involved in it, the more exciting it became, all the promotion or the branding or the processing that we have to do. I find it very interesting. It really releases the pent-up stress inside of me.

Would you introduce a little bit about batikTEKTURA itself?

With batikTEKTURA, we have a bunch of fabric behind here. The foundation and the base is a batik brand. So, we create our own batik, we make our own clothing, and everything is all under one house from the batik production to the clothing, to the bags, to the accessories production.

Because my partner, Yez, is actually an architect. So, we leverage on that, for architecture to become our signature pattern. We blend architecture elements, concepts, and all that into the traditional art of making batik. So, what you get is, for example, Liku is a topographical map of a place, the place where we went to boarding school together. Every single series that we make, every single batik series design that we make actually has a reference to a particular architecture concept or an element or a place. It is something that is also related to architecture.

I would like to find out more about the thought process behind when you are coming out with a new design, which is interestingly different from what we used to have. 

The thing is, from the first day we sat down, it took us about a year before we could actually come up with our first product. We did quite a lot of trial and error, because we were not able to have our own workshop at that time, so we decided to collaborate with the local batik makers. To find one is not easy. We started off with somebody to do a trial and error. So, that was a very costly trial and error because when we experimented, it did not come out like what we wanted. Then we decided to go for digital printing at one time. That was our first product, it was a hijab scarf with digital printing. But to us, it was not the batik that we wanted. Yes, the pattern looks like a batik pattern, but it is not batik because batik is using wax resists. So, we did not go ahead with that. We only had maybe two rounds of production and that was it.

And then, we were lucky (that) I was introduced to the block makers. Pak Yah is the one and only block maker in Kuala Terengganu right now, if I am not mistaken. I mean from the old generation. There may be some new ones right now, but we do not know who they are. So, Pak Yah is very famous in Malaysia. A lot of company goes to Pak Yah to have their blocks done. It took quite some time to convince Pak Yah to do our pattern because he said, “You know, this is something different than usual.” Then I said, “No, it is okay. You do it for us and we will see how it comes out, because we were still in the experimentation stage.”

Then Pak Yah was the one who got us hooked up with our workshop right now. And again, the guys at the workshop were very, very skeptical to try. So, when we told him it is okay, if it does not work out, we will still pay you because we are experimenting.

Good enough, he was responding well to our idea. He was very excited because he said that it was something fresh. Every now and then in between their daily production, when they do ours, is something like breaking out of their normal pattern. 

So, the thing about wanting to use architecture as our anchor is because there are so many things that can inspire you for a design. Like some people are being inspired by flora, some are being inspired by geometrical. Knowing me, if you do not give me a focus, things would go all over the place. So, I told Azrina, “We need something to focus on. Because architecture is my daily stuff and it comes to me naturally, that would be the best thing to anchor on. The thing about architecture is that you are not only inspired by geometry. You can also be inspired by nature. Because both nature and architecture work together. 

When you are familiar with something, you would have a very strong understanding about it. That is why we decided architecture. Because architecture is in Malay is arsitektur or something like that, so we combine batik and architecture, so it become batiktektur. Then we were like, let’s make it a little bit more kind of (nicer sounding). So, we added an “a” and it became batikTEKTURA. That is how we came up with the name, after a series of naming games and stuff like that. We finally decided on batikTEKTURA. 

The very first time that I first thought of the word was batik tekstura.

A lot of people thought that also, but it is actually a combination of batik and architecture.

I thought, even if it is tekstura, it really has got a lot of different textures to it as well. So that name might make sense too. And how do you incorporate the architectural designs into a batik design? 

Normally, I would sketch something first. I would then scan and send it to Azrina. Then we would see the feasibility of producing that into batik. We have a lot of designs in our series, but not all are feasible for batik production, but it is normally something that I am inspired from one of my work or it is something that is an element that I have worked with or is something that is part of an architecture design. 

Lorek, one of Batik Tektura’s best sellers

For instance, like our Lorek which is one of our best sellers. I was designing for a local corporate brand. They wanted us to design their batik. The theme that they gave us was quite difficult. So, I remember I was so stressed about doing that design, so I took out my batik paper. I just started drawing, like a five-minute stress out period, to destress. I took out my pen, scribbled, made a doodle and took pictures. 

I asked Azrina, “What do you think of this?”

She said, “Okay, let’s do this.”

So, it is mindless sketching.

It is not that you take architecture literally. Sometimes, there are certain sketches that I have developed and Azrina would give some comment on it, “perhaps you can tweak here a bit.” It is not just me who designed it hundred percent, it is a collaborative work. 

Another good example of how we incorporate architecture is in Bayang (shadow). You want to explain about Bayang? This is actually a play of shadows that you get when you see (light) come through windows.

This one is very architecture because it is inspired by one of the buildings by Le Corbusier. He designed this chapel which is a very famous building and now there are a lot of people who got inspired by it. Anybody who is in architecture would definitely recognise this pattern and relate it to that building.

So, this is one, one example that we take a direct inspiration from a building, but (for) the others, like the Silang, it is a play of line. This is what we architects do. Sometimes when we have a mental block and put things together, (Silang) is actually layers of line overlapping together. The one that Azrina is holding right now is just black and white, but the actual Silang is where we have a few colors overlapping each other.

Then we also have Deret, which is primarily about lines, solid, and void. It is an analogy to a city, in which the city is made up of lines, solids, and voids. The solids represent buildings, lines are the highways and stuff. This is again another experimental piece. When we say it is an experimental piece, normally we do not produce it in quite big numbers. It is being produced in very limited numbers and normally, we would not continue. 

We do have some other designs that we do for corporate brands. But when we do for corporate brands, normally we do what they want. If they do not want architecture, then we just follow whatever they want. 

And you have all these collections since 2016?

We started in 2017.

We started with digital printing first, the ones that Yez talked about earlier, where we did some scarves and shawls. We did pretty well, but like she said, we can tell that it is not truly us because it is digitised and it didn’t feel like “batik enough” for us. So then when we try all these other collections, I think we start off with Tanjung first and then Lorek, then Silang, right?

Silang, Deret, and then Liku. Bayang and Silang are about the same time.

How often do you come up with the design?

Actually, we released our design just before Ramadhan. That is the usual pattern. But I think since the pandemic last year, we have not been producing any. Even for Liku, I had it done just before Malaysia went into our first MCO. It was supposed to be Ramadhan in April. So, when they shut down everything, I could not go to the workshop to pick up the fabric for Zarina to sell. So, we missed last year’s season for Ramadhan. I think there is a lot that we need to learn and to adapt, in terms of production in this new current lifestyle. Even now, even if we are to produce, it is going to be quite difficult because as of today, the workshops are still closed.

They are not operating at all?

They are not allowed to work.

At the moment, for Malaysia, only essential services are allowed to operate their businesses. Things like petrol stations, banks, grocery shops, that’s about it.

So Tony, let’s say if we have our own workshop in my backyard. Yes, we can produce, provided it is a personal workshop. Because the workshop involves workers and the workers coming from other areas, I do not think that it is the best thing to do, to open the workshop now. If you get caught, (things) will be compounded.

Yes, it is not worth it. 

So, everybody is on hold right now. Even the big brands are not producing right now. 

How are the workers surviving this period? 

As far as I know, for the workers at the workshop, they do have some side gigs, so they work. I am not sure what you do, but I do know they have some side gigs.

And Azrina, you mentioned earlier about, you did batik printing and then you feel that it is not “(batik) enough”. Can you explain a little bit more? 

The thing that I am doing batik by block is that the technique, the pattern application of it makes every single batik piece different from the other. Although the pattern is the same, you know, the hand movement, the way that wax drips on the fabric makes it very unique, with the crackling. You can put them side by side, although it is the same pattern, they actually look quite different. The lines will be applied differently. So, we thought that it feels very unique, as opposed to when you have a digitally printed batik. Every line is so perfect.

When you had to print the batik lines, all the lines seem so perfect, and it is repeated consistently across all the entire length of the fabric and it does not feel like it is the right attitude towards batik, we wanted something more unique. We will not disregard or completely not go back to digital printing. We will keep our options open, be it digital printing, batik block, or batik canting or whatever. It is fine, but the way that our customers demand right now, it seems to be more skewed towards the batik block rather than digitally printed batik.

Maybe you can explain a little bit, in contrast to Malaysian batik, if you can describe a little bit more about the Malaysian batik as you knew growing up, versus your design?

Here in Terengganu, the two most common batik techniques would be the canting and also by using blocks. In terms of the canting, the designs are quite diversified because it is more abstract and it is more free flow, depending on the designer. Ever since I was small, I would spend hours going from one shop to another, until I found one batik that has the perfect pattern with the perfect colour, because I am very fussy. 

Sometimes you find a nice pattern, but the colour is not what you want. Sometimes, the colours are nicely blended, but the pattern is a little bit off. So, it is quite hard to satisfy what people want, especially people who have high artistic appreciation. With batik blocks, there are very traditional motifs but I do not see that anymore. So, now the patterns, although they differ from one workshop to another, are still about flora and fauna, something similar to what you have at the back there. They call this the “traditional pattern”. 

Now, we are starting to see a little bit more geometrical patterns coming up. But they still have that traditional element incorporated. With ours, we decided to totally break free from that, we do not do the batik to be worn as a sarong. Like the one that you have at the back there is mostly worn as sarong here (ed.: in Malaysia) and sometimes people do make it into either items like shirts or blouses, but typically it is worn as sarong. 

When we started, we did not have the intention of selling it as a sarong. Our intention was to sell it as a two-meter fabric to do whatever you want, but you can also wear it as a sarong. We did experiment with Lorek to make it as a sarong, but somehow that version was not picking up in comparison to our two-meter fabric. Maybe, to some people, the traditional batik is still for the sarong and batikTEKTURA is offering something other than sarong. (Hence,) I told Azrina that we need something different to anchor our design so that is why we went for the architecture elements. So how you want to use our fabric, so that is up to the customers and from what we can say we are offering something different from what is already in the market. Normally, people who are in the arts, like architects, they just love our brand.

Yeah, definitely I can see something different and refreshed that is not the normal, traditional batik Malaysia or even traditional batik in general. Is it a correct assessment to say that for the traditional motif, people tend to wear it as a sarong and then for modern patterns,  they have a lot more creative expression or explorations in their designs?

I think maybe because of how batik has been portrayed. All this while we always see batik as a sarong. But, I think we will also see that there are people who make the batik sarong into kebaya or men’s shirt. The thing that I like about Indonesian batik is how you turn batik into wearables, not just as men’s shirt or kebaya but I have seen a lot of the Indonesian local batik makers are making it into skirts, etc. The same thing is also being explored in Malaysia right now, not just by the traditional makers, but also by the new makers like us. So I think batik is moving forward in a direction where it has become something more adaptable, something that you can use in a more creative way rather than just as a sarong. 

I think you should not limit batik just to a certain thing. It can be anything actually like clutches, masks, household products. So you should not just stop there. If you can explore it further, go ahead.

I think you should not limit batik just to a certain thing. If you can explore it further, go ahead.

Ultimately it is a material, it is textiles for you to apply further.

When we talk about Malaysian batik using the standard Malaysian batik motifs like Pucuk Rebung, I think a lot of batik makers in Malaysia have done that for many years and it is already in the market. (There are) so many of them out there. We do not want to do something that is already there. That is how we differentiate ourselves from what is already available in the market. This is how we anchor, how we present, how the brand represents, so if you want something different then this is what we are.

So after the design process and then you bring it to the workshop and you mentioned a little bit about the response of the batik maker, how do you work with them?

They were reluctant in the first place. When you look at our designs, it is a little bit too crazy. What in the world are you asking us to do? *laughter*

For the very first time, I had a hard time convincing the blockers to block the pattern because it is something very different and the way of the blocking system is also different. How blocks are being done for the traditional sarong is not the same as how we do ours.

(Are you referring to) the stamping process?

Yes, the stamping process. Normally, I would do the first prototype. I will show them the first prototype, like this is how I want it and this is how you should block it. 

After we run the first series of experiments, normally for every series that we do there is always the first set of experiments. That experiment pieces are normally very challenging to convince them that this is how it is done because there are some of our pieces that would take them longer to do, in comparison to their day-to-day sarong stamping. To convince them to spend that extra time is not easy. After a while when they are used to it already, there is not much problem with getting them to do. 

When I designed my block, I would take the sketch to my blockers first. We will sit down together and see how we are going to block this on fabric. We have done one design before which was simply impossible to produce commercially because one two-meter piece would take 40 minutes. That is not possible because in our production, one piece should not take them more than five minutes. 

So, every time before we start turning the sketch into the brass block, we will sit down together with the blockers and discuss how we are going to do this block, how many blocks do we actually need to have this pattern. So there are some patterns that you only require one block and there are some patterns that you require up to three blocks. This is something new for them because previously they did not have this kind of arrangement, so it is fair to say that we get everybody involved from the very beginning to the very end. 

Even when it comes to colours. What we have done is we have a series of colour swatches, I have one set and they have one set. So we would go through the colour swatches together and we will see whether it is really possible for these colours to be together. So the initial production stage is quite lengthy and once we get everything correct, it would just be very fast.

As compared to regular stamping, what are the differences?

If you want to make batik sarong, they have a few different types of blocks. They have the blocks for the body, the block for the kepala and the blocks for the kaki. We do not have that. We do not go by that kind of blocking system. If it is just one block, it should be just easy stamping since it is just one block stamping.

What they always complain to me is, “can you make the joint easier?” They say that it is very hard to control the joint. Some of our patterns need to be joined precisely or else it will not be nice, like silang. Silang is quite hard to join. These are one of the reasons why they find it difficult. It is very hard to join that because our batik block is only about A4 size paper and the fabric is 2 meters horizontally and 45 inch the other way. So, how you are going to join is very important.

I was trying to design a parang which is diagonal and that is so difficult to join. Definitely I understand the pain if it is not aligned and you are not used to it.

Silang, which is layers of line overlapping together

Joint is one thing. Overlapping is another thing. Like Silang, it is really hard for them because first, they have to join it correctly and then when they go for the second overlap, they have to join over the  old lines. You are going to get crossed eyes and stuff like that. 

But because we understand how things work, so when we design, we design with them in our mind. Is it possible for them to stamp this in five minutes, is it easy for them to join, and if the joint goes off, will there be a big gap and stuff like that. The thing about playing with blocking is you need to control the gap size. If there is a bit too much gap, then you will get some colour in consistency when you do the dyeing, so we need to close the gap as much as possible.

It seems that conceptually it is just very simple but definitely not.

I do the blocking on my own sometimes, but they would just say that I am too slow and tell me to move over.

Liku was also not as easy as we thought.

Do you actually have your own workers?

We use the batik workshop workers. Essentially they are our third-party outsourcing partner.

The thing about this workshop. Last time, Terengganu had hundreds of workshops doing batik blocks but I think now there are fewer than ten. When we first started we did want to have our own workshop. Then we start to think about helping them rather than competing with them. So we finally found one workshop that was willing to explore our ideas. We have been collaborating with them ever since. In fact, I think when we won third place in Batik Seri Endon, they were happy because that was the first time their batik got out on the national scene. To us, it was very rewarding to be able to help a small workshop here, to go out to Seri Endon and we actually won third place.

I am amazed that the number used to be hundred and now there are only ten workshops.

Because the young ones are not interested in inheriting their father’s workshop. I have to admit that being at the workshop is very tough. It is hard, it is very laborious, standing for about 4-5 hours a day. Not all wanted to do that, when now you can be making money just having a Tik Tok account. *laughter*

What are some of the challenges?

Challenges in competition, they are very stiff, I have to admit. This business currently operates part-time, there are only me and Yez. I am on a career break at the moment so only now I can actually concentrate on this full-time, but only starting to.

In the past, we have only been giving 20% of our time to promote it, to promote batik. Such as social media, it is a 24-hour thing. If you want to get your brand exposed and be at the top of mind of people, you need to actually be putting your content every day, minimum every two days or three days and you have to keep going. While I was a banker, it was really hard to do that. So there is probably an update once every two weeks or something because you also have your family you take care of. Moving forward, we want to actually keep up with the competition. So we hope to increase our exposure in the future.

How about you, Yez?

Because I am on the production side, I think the biggest challenge right now is we are not having enough successors. Let’s say if the current batik workshops cease to operate, to find new talents is not easy. It is as good as starting from zero and the thing about batik, especially using the block method, it is that practice makes perfect. 

This traditional crafts are not passed down to you in the form of a book or a manual. It is something that you have to be trained for. You need to have a guru (teacher) so if you want to master the art, let’s say if I want to be a master blocker, I have to leave my architecture, go to the workshop and work there for them, then my blocking would improve. 

That is one of the biggest challenges right now, especially with the brass block. The current block maker does not have a successor. If he goes, all the knowledge that he has, goes with him. It is not that they did not want to have people to share their knowledge with. It is just that people are not interested.

I think the government has made some initiatives like having a workshop or we even have an institute here in Malaysia. They teach batik and all sorts of techniques, but not all graduates would venture into the business. At the very beginning, we worked with one of the graduates from that institute, but recently I contacted him and he said that he stopped doing it because it was not lucrative enough. I think, for batik, it takes time to make money. I think people would like to make fast cash nowadays with the current economic situation. It depends on how persevered you can be.

The other challenges that we face is in terms of getting our stocks to produce, such as fabrics and colours. We get our fabrics from Indonesia. At one time, everybody was short of this one particular material and this material is imported from Indonesia and only a licensed importer can import that material. Surprisingly, Malaysia does not produce our own local fabric for batik.

This traditional crafts are not passed down to you in the form of a book or a manual. It is something that you have to be trained for.

Not even cotton fabric?

The raw fabric is imported from Indonesia.

Sometimes we have to buy off people who import it from Indonesia. This affects pricing and because it is being imported by a certain party, they control what fabric they want to bring in. We used to use this one particular cotton and now it is out. We have to produce with what (materials that) is given to us. We do not have a choice to get what we want.

The same thing goes with the colour powders as well. There was one pink and it was so nice but now they stop importing that pink (dye). I cannot get that pink anymore. 

I think the digital technology is also imposing a big challenge to the local batik making because they could produce batik at a faster rate and they could produce it at a way cheaper cost. They sell it way cheaper than traditional batik.

There are a lot of people who cannot differentiate between digital or hand-printed batik. They see one digital batik then they expect the price should be the same for hand-printed batik. It is a lack of awareness as well in consumers in terms of quality.

I am not sure about the canting because we are not in that group yet. But I reckon they do have their own challenges as well. I would reckon, if I were to take a guess, it would be difficult to get people to do the canting nowadays as probably not many people are doing it.

Thank you so much for sharing and it is very eye-opening to learn about the ecosystem of batik makers in Malaysia. Some problems are kind of similar to Indonesia in terms of regenerations, but I did not know about the material shortage that the industry has.

What are upcoming and interesting projects that we can look for from batikTEKTURA?

We need to produce more designs, Yez. After this MCO, so we can travel at least inter-district again, I want to get some designs out. We have not been able to produce a new design for over a year now.

In the medium term, we want to have our own physical space because I feel that just being digitally online is not enough. Under MCO, we have to only be engaging and selling online. With colours and designs like this, it does not do justice. It is better if you actually see it with your own eyes and feel it with your hands, as compared to seeing it on social media. It is fine, we will still continue promoting and improving our social and digital interface with our customers.

At the same time, in the medium term, we would also like to have our physical space because I want to create a team where I can work with marketeers, crafters and tailors in one place so we could collaborate and ideate all together instead of all (of us) in the separate places as we are at the moment.

What are the final closing words that you might have or a shout-out for batikTEKTURA or your hopes for batik in general?

As we have mentioned, we are a batik company with a signature concept where we blend in and infuse architectural elements into it. You are not going to find it anywhere else, only we do it. You will find the design more refreshing, very different and very unique. So come and have a look at our Instagram or Facebook account. We are also on some digital e-commerce platform called Poptron. We also sell on that platform as well. So do check us out. We will love to have you as our customers and you can also ask questions to us if you want some answers about certain things, certain designs that we have. We are more than willing to take any of your questions or queries and satisfy your curiosity. So do check us out.

Also, in terms of our future, we hope to grow our business bigger, make it more accessible to everyone, to have a physical presence in a few cities, probably, if we can. That is my last shout out to all the people who are watching us today.

How about you, Yez?

I think I hope that people would consider batik as our priceless heritage. It is the heritage of the Nusantara – Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei. So, we need to preserve it because once it is gone, you can never get it back again. My hope is that people would wear more batik, the original batik. 

(I also hope that) there would be more people who want to take up this traditional craft as an industry or as their job or as a career. 

Even if you do not like batik, buy one and keep it and pass it down to your children as a memory of our rich culture and heritage because this is something which is only unique to us and you do not want other people to take it away from us. So if you do not keep it or we do not take care of it, we might lose it someday. I am hoping that would not happen. We are hoping that we will see more batik in the market to come and pakailah batik (wear batik), in every sense. If you come here to Terengganu, you will see men wearing batik sarong, not just women.

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  batikTEKTURA’s Instagram and website for the latest collection.

Photo credit: batikTEKTURA, unless stated otherwise.