‘A name, a function and a philosophy’: The art of Indonesian batik

Vendors at a trade fair this month in Jakarta to mark National Batik Day [Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP]

Solo, Indonesia – Gunawan Setiawan is the fourth generation of batik makers and sellers in his family, and hails from the historic royal city of Surakarta, or Solo, in Central Java which is also known as the batik capital of Indonesia.

“Batik is a special art from Indonesia, and especially Java, which is made with wax and dye,” Setiawan said. “Originally, sticky rice was used as a way of carving out the designs and making them resistant to the coloured dye, before wax was chosen as a more effective replacement.”