Pak Hendri is an inspiration: Knowledgeable, motivated, articulate, and incredibly productive. His is a great story that will take more than a blog post to tell.
Pak Hendri is an environmental steward in a country where environmental issues are not necessarily foremost in the minds of the 55,000+ small and medium sized batik makers - or the textile industry as a whole. A reasearcher, chemist and forward thinking former member of the Ministry of Batik and Handicraft, he now travels the country helping SME's to better understand the implications of chemical dyes, and the opportunities associated with natural, plant based dyes. Pictured here with bixa (annatto), a plant whose seeds are well known for their use as a natural yellow or orange colorant. (Video credit to Gabrielle Thibaudeau)
In our current collection of tabletop linens we are featuring both designs created in collaboration with Pak Hendri in his workship in Jogjakarta, as well as some batiks designed and dyed by some of his (many) students. This large floral block print is from a batik workshop in Solo, where they now incorporate natural dyes in their work after taking Pak Hendri's "Go Green" seminar.
Thanks to Fiber Art Now for featuring Textiil's natural dye batiks in their Earth Day feature on Facebook, and also to our partner 1% for the Planet for giving us a shoutout on their Facebook page. More designs and more color choices coming!