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| High Tech Museum of Exclusive Batiks |
Renowned cloth maker/fashion designer and owner of Bin House, Josephine "Obin" Komara, on Wednesday 21stNovember 2013 launched the first ever textile museum on the fabled island of Bali.
Simply taking the name "Museum Kain" (Literally meaning the Cloth
Museum), the museum is located on the third floor of Beachwalk, an
upscale mall situated near the Kuta Beach
Area, and is completed with high tech interactive displays, including
touch-screen consoles in front of each piece of exhibited cloth.
The museum was opened in a modest ceremony , reported thejakartapost.com. Relatives and guests did not sit on chairs but on pandan
mats positioned around colorful and elaborate offerings that combined
Javanese and Chinese cultural elements. The centerpiece was the
cone-shaped yellow rice tumpeng (Symbolizing
Mount Semeru where the gods in Javanese mythology lived ) which is
always present in traditional Javanese rituals and ceremonies. Instead
of calling it a "soft" or "grand" opening, Obin prefers the term Selametan, a common Javanese ritual to express gratitude and seek divine blessing.
"What we are trying to do today, through this museum, is to remember
the past, to cherish the present and to prepare the future. This museum
should be a place where our youngsters learn about the beautiful works
created and passed on by their ancestors and at the same time be
inspired to create their own," Obin said.
Obin added that the idea to build the museum was her husband's, Roni
Siswandi, a noted archaeologist and batik connoisseur who passed away
early this year. Obin was said to have been brokenhearted and decided to
stop the project, but then her son Erlangga "Elang" Komara stepped up
and continued the project. "So, this museum was Roni's dream and Elang's
achievement," she explained.
The Museum features 61 rare pieces of various Batik cloths on display. Copper batik printing blocks, canting
wax pens and dried leaves used for coloring are displayed in glass
cases. The Museum also comes with special lighting which combines
eco-friendly LED lights and fluorescent tubes that bring out the various
pieces to come alive. Adding to the dramatic effect, the winding
passageways are purposefully left dark.
The collections are going to be rotated every six months to accommodate Obin and Roni's collection of over 600 rare batiks.
Obin has gained national recognition for her work to conserve and
promote batik as well as for her philanthropic work across the
archipelago. Obin Komara began collecting vintage cloth pieces from all
over Indonesia in the mid 1970s. Obin's search to find contemporary
fabrics that could compare with the antique textile pieces in her own
collection convinced her that the rich heritage of Indonesian textile
weaving and dyeing had been almost forgotten in the midst of mass
machine production.
Rather than lamenting the passing of an era and the loss of an art,
Obin set about breathing new life into the dying handmade cloth
industry. Armed with only a handful of spinners, reelers, and weavers,
Obin and her team began to produce cloths in the late 70s. In 1986, BIN
house opened its first shop in Jakarta, which was soon followed with scores of textile exhibitions, mainly in Japan and in Indonesia.
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| Kain Obin |
The exquisite fabrics from BIN house are entirely hand-spun and
hand-woven by the finest Indonesian artisans, with no assistance from
modern technology. Each piece of cloth is a product of meticulous
craftsmanship that often takes months-sometimes a whole year—to finish.
The work starts from selecting and processing the fibers into yarn, then
preparing the yarns for the intricate weaving using handlooms, then the
weavers, "batikers"(Batik painters), and dyers begin their
work. Very often, more than 40 artisans are involved in this lengthy and
delicate process. The intricate patterns depicting ancient and
near-extinct motifs are results of complex methods of fabric weaving and
batik dyeing that would take decades to master.
In addition to cloth making, Obin has also participated in
international forums such as seminars, symposiums, workshops and
discussions on textile making, the most recent of which was "Artisans of
South East Asia" a symposium organized by UNESCO and The Toyota
Foundation in 2001.
Sumber: indonesia.travel
