Unintentional Gain

Yesterday, I visited a museum owned by a 45-year-old business that has spread its wings across numerous cities in Indonesia. It is the House of Danar Hadi, showing over 800 batik garments, including some of the owners’ favorites, as part of a total of 11,000 kept.

Batik, in the form of garment or clothing, has been a commodity in Indonesia for decades. The manufacturing of batik was started by Dutch investors who employed native Indonesians to produce batik with Dutch design. The wide variety of designs was greatly influenced by politics and local cultures (wherever it was produced). Some tell stories of folk tales, such as Little Red Riding Hood, and images of wars taking place in lands that are now part of the Republic of Indonesia. The colors identify which area they originated from; those with bright colors come from the northern coast line of Java, and darker colors from the inland areas. Batik has also been used as an artistic expression of ancient Javanese empires. Yogyakarta and Solo are two empires that still exist today. Their kings still ruling their respective regions and royal families living in palaces called keraton. In the past, they made an agreement that they went separate ways; Solo was a proponent of Dutch ‘divide-and-conquer’ interest, and Yogyakarta was against. Yogya people, today, consider themselves more liberal and tolerant. Each has their own batik design; some features are total opposites of each other. Batik is worn for formal occasions or daily activities as uniforms or work clothes. Being part of modern fashion, batik is now printed in factories and made much more available at low prices. A typical process of modernization – mass production.

Walking across the museum forced me to look at things historically. Classic batik designs tell stories and contain hidden symbols, produced by Dutch, Chinese, and native Indonesian designers (both from and for the common people and the royal families). Contemporary batik is simply made commercial. Yes, it is a lucrative business, but it still makes me wonder about what we produce today. Do products, today, have meaning? Does the evolution of a product have meaning?

Batik Danar Hadi’s vision is to produce batik that is relevant with the evolving market, while preserving the art of batik making.

As I am constructing the story for my social enterprise, I met a competitor, who might as well be my partner in the future. We are going to talk on the phone tomorrow.

Question of the day: What’s the story of your product or enterprise?