The beauty of batik is to be found not only in attire, but also soft furnishings and handicraft.
Batik comes in many delightful guises and none more ravishing than in fashion, soft furnishings and handicraft as the 7th Piala Seri Endon batik design competition, organised by Yayasan Budi Penyayang Malaysia, proved.
The Piala Seri Endon was the brainchild of the late Tun Endon Mahmood, wife of former Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Badawi. She envisioned batik catching on globally in the same way that Thai silk, Indian sari and Japanese kimono have.
Tun Endon Mahmood launched the first batik-based design competition in 2003 with Fashion as the sole category. The event was a runaway success, and the scope of the competition was expanded the following year to include Soft Furnishing and in 2005, Handicraft.
The Piala Seri Endon is now Malaysia’s foremost showcase of all things batik and regularly features experts who speak on a diverse range of topics with batik as the leitmotif.
This year saw 21 speakers touching on everything, from Batik in Azerbaijan by Tatyana Agababayeva, to Revival of Mud Batik with Natural Dyes by Sunil Vaid, to Batik in Sri Lanka by Sonali Dharmawadena.
There was also a Batik Bazaar with affordable batik for everyone, a Batik Treasure Hunt and an exhibition of the works of this year’s 12 finalists. As usual, the highlight was the Grand Finals on Dec 13 at the KL Convention Centre Ballroom graced by the Raja Perempuan Perlis, Tuanku Tengku Fauziah Al-Marhum Tengku Abdul Rashid.
Over the weekend of Dec 21 and Dec 22, the heats for the Fashion category were held at Berjaya Times Square with 12 finalists chosen.
The Soft Furnishing and Handicraft categories were conducted at Berjaya Times Square Hotel. While most participants were involved in the fashion and lifestyle industries, there were also engineers, architects, students and others from non-related fields, all seeking a stab at fame.
The prizes in each of the three categories were RM50,000 cash with RM30,000 going to the winner of each category.
While fashion always dominates due to its eye-candy effect, the judges this year were particularly impressed by the submissions in the Soft Furnishing category.
“Soft Furnishing is a strong group this year,” commented Professor Dr Mohd Najib Ahmad Dawa, director-general of National Art Gallery and Piala Seri Endon chief judge.
“The entries were very serious, very competitive and of a high standard. Some of the designs could have been used for Fashion but found their way into Soft Furnishing.”
Datuk Leela Mohd Ali, CEO of Yayasan Budi Penyayang Malaysia, always careful not to make any comments during the judging, raved after the results were announced: “We have seen a steady improvement in overall standards from year to year. I think we have succeeded in garnering the interest of Malaysia’s batik-making talent.
“We must also thank the colleges for encouraging students to join. Senior industry players also participated, so there was a blend of established and new talents every year which makes the competition an exciting and interesting one to watch.”
--http://thestar.com.my
