Is Batik a Lost Art?

Batik is one of many resist dyeing techniques used to make designs on fabric.  It is one of the oldest techniques dating back thousands of years.  Check out some interesting historical facts at The Batik Guild.

Batik is the art of creating patterns on cloth using the resist method of waxing a pattern and applying dyes to the fabric.  The more layers of waxes and dyes, the more complex and intricate the design.  Click here to get more details on the art of batik.

Dyeing Batik Table Runner in progress

Fully Dyed Table Runner in progress

Batik Table Runner completed   

 But is it lost?  These days, there are far more modern, faster, and cost efficient ways of creating patterns on fabric. Batik is still a much loved and practiced artform in Asia, Europe, The Americas, among others.  It is practiced in the Caribbean where I trained and fell in love with the art many years ago.  There are many online tutorials, workshops and online courses on offer from many artisans around the world.  Batik is even now an AirBnB vacation experience internationally.  Batik has been around thousands of years and will be around for thousands more.

Like most things, Batik has somewhat evolved with civilizations and modern advances in technology and materials over the centuries.  Today, the technique of creating a batik remains unchanged but the materials and supplies involved in the process of executing the technique changes ever so slightly from artisan to artisan.  Among these changes are preferences for types of waxes - eco friendly, organic or the combination that gives the most authentic batik crackle; types of dyes - natural dyes or synthetic.  The tools have not so much changed as they have become difficult to procure and as a result some newer tools are poorly made.  This scarcity and substandard workmanship mostly affects artisan in areas where the introduction of batik is fairly new and geographically distanced from communities with generational ties to the art of batik.

Traditionally, especially in Asia, Batik was only produced for clothing to the extent of distinguishing social hierarchy. Today, it is adapted for many other textiles including soft furnishings, wall hangings and other home decor pieces of art.

As humans, we evolve and innovate and Batik art has seen some daring and talented artisans who walk that line between the purest form of the art and the amazing results only the magic of fusion of art forms and techniques can produce.