Batik Design

Research

As per usual, we hit the books to learn more about batik. We don't want to go for the conventional style of batiks that we usually have here in Malaysia which are usually just flora. So we're encouraged to research about other cultures of batik or even just patterns of other wordly cultures. As long as we'll be able to expand our mind in designing the batik.

We looked at designs from China, different batik techniques, and also the colour schemes that are suitable with our batik designs.

Conceptualisation

Bryan leads the batik conceptualisation. We are practically amazed by his speed at drawing. He helped us realize themes that we discuss about. One of the themes was landscapes in portrait format. Others are animals, weather and also psychadelic. 

In the end, we scraped out those ideas and went with pottery. For my batik, it's a labu sayong which is very prevalent in Perak, where I lived before. Bryan's pottery is a big Ming vase, while originally we planned for Jason to have an Indian-themed bowl. Ms. Lisa told us, that doesn't really fit in with Jason as he's not Indian.

 Now, we have to find subject matters that can do justice to Jason's nationality (He's from Mauritius by the way). One of them was the pink pigeon and another is sugarcane. Mauritius is known to be large exporter for sugar. So, it works well.

For the colour, our potteries are usually of  colours that are already set. So we decided to go with those colours and maybe experiment with it on the day itself. No worries, hopefully.

Demonstration

For the first time ever, I get to see how batik is made. We went to this place in KL called Jadi Batek. I guess that's it for this paragraph.

Batiking

We are definitely not batik kings for that matter. Very much out of my element as I'm not used to painting using dye let alone watercolour. Canting was difficult as well. I find it hard to hold it steady and also trying to avoid the wax from spilling onto the the fabric.

It was a lot of fun though. I could say the best moment is experimenting with the colours to see what mixture of colours works well with the design.

Presentation

We are quite pleased with our batik design because it works well together and even separated. The great thing about our batik designs are that each of them has their own meaning. When combined, these meaning come together to give a stronger context.

Bryan's Ming vase exemplifies wealth and high social status. It's like a dream of his to be very successful in his life. The flowers adds an element of beauty and softness to juxtapose that of the stern and strict asian culture.

Jason's Mauritian bowl uses the the pink pigeon as a symbol. As he currently resides in Malaysia and has to fly to get here, it signifies his current status as a student without restrictions. Especially in the case of family members. The sugarcane denotes the fact that Mauritius is a big exporter of sugar.

My labu sayong represents places I've lived before. As you all know, labu sayong is usually popular in Perak but I've added elements that are from Terengganu. As palm trees and paddy fields used to be my backyard instead of skyscrapers and shopping malls. Labu sayong also have the ability to make water that's stored in it to be colder and more refreshing.

As a collective, there are different meanings that can be defined from our designs. The literal meaning is that the labu sayong provides cold water. When it is passed down to the bowl, it makes the water more sweet. Then it is stored in the Ming vase because of it's higher capacity.

The figurative meaning is that the labu sayong embodies the working class people because of the paddy and palm tree. Water is said to be the products of the hard workers. The Mauritian bowl represents the messenger or the middlemen, while the Ming vase signifies people of higher social status reaping all of the wealth.

You can even look at the design to have the context of diversity. It's debatable, yet not definite. As you can interpret it as you please.