Art is an act of expressing feelings, thoughts,

and observations.
THE ARTS AND CRAFTS
OF SOUTHEAST ASIA
THE ARTS AND CRAFTS OF
SOUTHEAST ASIA
The Southeast Asian countries have
a very rich history of arts and crafts.
A wide variety of religions are found
throughout the region, many
including many Hindu and
influenced practices. The major
religion are Islam and Buddhism,
followed by Christianity.
 THE ARTS AND CRAFTS OF
SOUTHEAST ASIA
Some of Southeast Asia’s arts and literature
are quite influenced by Hinduism brought to
the centuries ago. Southeast Asia manifest
significant inheritances particularly in visual
arts from Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos,
Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore,
Brunie and Myanmar.
 FABRIC AND DESIGN OF
INDONESIA
Southeast Asia recognized for its legendary
aesthetic in traditional woven textiles.
Clothing forms worn in Thailand, Laos,
Myanmar, And Cambodia are quite similar.
Influences from India and China, carried
through trade and religious teachings, are
evident in clothing styles.
 BATIK

Batik is an Indonesian word, that refers

to a genetic wax-resist technique used in
textile. In words originates from
Javanese word amba, meaning “to
write” and Javanese word for dot or
point is titik. The art of batik probably
reached its greatest development in
Indonesia.
 BATIK

In an Indonesian tradition, each time

the batik artisan executes a
particular intricate pattern, the
design is not only fixed to the cloth,
but the meaning of the design is
engrave more deeply to the soul of
the artisan.
 BATIK
In general, there are two types of
categories of batik design:
1)the geometric motifs (which tend to be
the earlier design)
2)the free from design, which are based on
stylized pattern from natural forms of a
woven texture. Nitik is the famous design
illustrating this affect.
 BATIK AND WAX DYEING
HISTORY
The type of dyeing which is used in Batik is
called a wax resist. This technique in fabric is
an ancient art form. This type of art has been
discovered to trace all the way back to Egypt in
the 4th century BC. Then is was used to wrap
mummies, linen was soaked in wax, and
scratched using a sharp tool. The technique
was also practiced in various other parts of the
world as well.
Melted wax is Wherever the wax
applied to has seeped into
cloth before the fabric, the dye
being dipped will not
in dye. It is penetrate. After
very common waxing and
for artists to dyeing several
use a mixture times, the fabric is
of beeswax ironed between
and paraffin paper towels to
wax. This is absorb the wax
because the and reveal the
beeswax has colors and crinkle
the ability to lines that give
hold to the batik its
fabric and the character.
paraffin wax
allows
 IKAT

Ikat refers to fabrics that are woven, generally using hand and hip looms.
What’s so cool about ikat is that the patterns aren’t just created by choosing
individually-colored threads across each row– the threads themselves are dyed
into patterns, which are then woven into the larger pattern of the final fabric.
That means a black and white pattern may not be created from black threads
and white threads, but from threads that are dyed both black and white.
Different areas of Indonesia use different weaving and knotting techniques, but
Kalimantan and Nusa Tenggara Timur seem to use similar techniques. Ikat
is most commonly found in Kalimantan, Nusa Tenggara Barat, and Nusa
Tenggara Timur. Like batik, different areas and regions have different
techniques, motifs, colors, and patterns that make them distinguishable from
one another.
 KERAWONG
Kerawong or karawo is fabric that is embroidered with
hand-woven designs. Unlike batik and ikat, the designs
created by kerawong tend to be smaller, but are no
less impressive and time-intensive to create. Some
would argue the process is more complicated, as all of
the designs must first be drawn and blocked before
they are sewn. Kerawong is most famous in Gorontalo,
a province in northern Sulawesi.
Selection and Preparation of the Cloth for Batik
The cloth that is used for batik is washed and boiled in
water many times prior to the application of wax so that
all traces of starches, lime, chalk and other sizing
materials are removed. Prior to the implementation of
modern-day techniques, the cloth would have been
pounded with a wooden mallet or ironed to make it
smooth and supple so it could best receive the wax
design. With the finer machine-made cotton available
today, the pounding or ironing processes can be omitted.
Normally men did this step in the batik process.
 KAWUNG

Kawung is another very old design of intersecting

circles, known in Java since thirteenth century. This
design appeared carved into the walls of many temples
throughout Java such Prambanan near Jogjakarta and
Kediri in East Java. The circles are sometimes
embellished inside with two or more small crosses or
other ornaments such as intersecting lines or dots. It
has been suggested that the oval might present flora
such as a fruit of the kopak (silk cotton) tree or the aren
(sugar palm)
 CEPLOK

Ceplok is general name for a whole series of

geometric design based on squares, rhombus,
circles, stars, etc. Although fundamentally
geometric celpok can represent abstractions and
stylization of flowers, buds, seeds, and even
animals. Variations in color intensity can create
illusions of depth and the overall affect is like
medallion pattern seen on Turkish tribal rugs.
 PARANG

Parang was one used exclusively by the

royal courts of Central Java. It several
suggested meaning such as “rugged rock”,
“knife pattern” or “broken blade”. The
Parang design consist of slanting rows of
thick knife-like segments running in
parallel diagonal bands. Parang usually
alternated with a narrower band in a
darker contrasting color.
 PARANG
These darker bands contain another design
element, a line of lozenge-shaped motifs called
mlinjon. There are so many variations of these
basuc stripped patterns with their elegant
sweeping lines, with over forty parang designs
recorded. The most famous is the “Parang Rusak”
which in its most classical from consists of rows of
softly folded parang.
 PARANG RUSAK

NITIK RANDU SELING

KAWUNG MOTIF
CELPOK MOTIF