October 2019 Edition Apparel October 2019 issue | Page 30

FEATURE
A Confluence of Cultures
New Delhi-based designer Pooja Shroff draws on
Indonesian batik to create an ongoing line of apparel.
Brinda Gill lends insights.
“Indonesian batik is a an absolutely beautiful and unique textile tradition. Seeing
batik fabrics, motifs, patterns, as well as the different batik
the sheer variety of b
techniques practis
practised in Indonesia, I thought it would be wonderful to draw on
its essence and reinterpret it using an Indian textile technique. I believed this
initiative would amalgamate the rich textile legacies of Indonesia and India,
resulting in a collection that would be distinctive and striking,” says designer
Pooja Sh
Shroff. An Indonesian batik textile given to her as a gift by her
sister-in-law,
who was brought up in Indonesia, charmed Pooja, who
siste
kept
ke the textile in mind for a future collection.
While
W
in Jakarta, Pooja spent her time exploring a spectrum of
batik
b
fabrics in local markets. “As I went around the local fabric
m
market, I found a fantastic variety of batik fabrics. Each store
had a wonderful selection of batiks with different motifs that
were both symbolic and decorative. Though I spent the whole
day at the market, I could only visit three stores as each one of
them had so much to offer!” she says.
th
Pooja returned to India with bales of traditional Indonesian
Shroff
ja
batik,
created using canting (a bamboo instrument), block printing,
o
o
@P
and a combinatio
combination of the two techniques. These textiles bore traditional motifs
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I APPAREL I
October 2019