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THE SEMARANG City Government, Central Java, continues to develop non-chemical and environmentally friendly batik crafts through the Natural Dye Batik Center Gallery in the Gunungpati area of Semarang.
“Thank God, today we inaugurated the Natural Batik Center in Malon, Gunungpati District. This is environmentally friendly batik,” said Semarang Mayor Hevearita Gunaryanti Rahayu in Semarang, recently.
Ita, Hevearita’s nickname, explained that the Natural Dye Batik Center was provided by the Semarang City Government to support the creative economic activities of natural batik makers, starting from the production process, promotion, to marketing.
In the production process, there are two techniques used by batik craftsmen as usual, namely stamping and writing techniques, while the coloring materials use natural ones.
For the coloring materials, he said, craftsmen develop environmentally friendly natural dyes, including mahogany wood, indigo leaves or indigo plants, and mangrove plants.
“The process starts from coloring, dyeing, and so on using non-chemical materials. Because we use natural materials, such as from trees for coloring,” said the first woman to become Mayor of Semarang.
According to her, batik needs to be introduced to the younger generation, especially children, from an early age so that it fosters love and pride in batik, which is a cultural heritage from our ancestors.
“It is necessary to introduce batik to children from an early age. Children can learn batik through education so that batik will not become extinct. This is one effort to preserve batik,” Hevearita remarked.
With the development of this natural batik center, she hopes that natural dyed batik with various motifs created will become a distinctive icon of the city of Semarang.
“Mangrove batik is not available in all regions because this type of plant only exists in coastal areas. Then, natural batik in Gunungpati also supports this, because not many people have natural motifs,” she concluded.
Meanwhile, Head of the Semarang City Industry Service, Tri Supriyanto, explained that the Natural Batik Center in Malon, Gunungpati District consists of three floors, with the ground floor as a place for production and education on how to make batik with natural dyes.
On the second floor, there is a gallery of batik production with non-chemical dyes, in the form of clothes, cloth, bags, hats, and so on, while on the third floor there is a meeting hall as a place for seminars and welcoming guests from outside the area.
“Here there are 20 batik making Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) that we have curated. Later we will propose to make a Decree (Decree) from the Mayor of Semarang so that they can take turns occupying space here. Due to limited space,” he said.
At the same time, MSMEs in the Natural Dye Batik Center Gallery will be organized so that every day there will be various batik activities, including mentors who will explain if anyone wants to learn how to make natural dye batik.
“So, not only does the inauguration ceremony continue to be quiet, but we also provide information and outreach to the OPD and the community so they can use this building for training,” he concluded. [antaranews]
