The maestro has passed away, but his work will always be preserved. We have acknowledged that Iwan Tirta is a batik designer and artisan, one of the best in this field. Did you know that he also created tens of thousands of batik patterns?
I read some batik books where they mostly documented many batik patterns, (especially) from the Javanese culture, written by non-Indonesians. Because there are not many Indonesian batik artisan who’ve documented their work on a proper archive, Iwan Tirta , with his company, documented handmade batik patterns, both from his own development pattern and the local heritage.
I might be unaware of how he was accredited with the beginning the early revival of batik design during the 1970s and 1980s, and promoting it internationally since then. But his consistence of preserving traditional, handmade batik has significantly influence Indonesians. “Batik HAS to be worn, otherwise it lost its substance”. (more…)
