A small Indonesian batik jacket with silver thread embroidery on a wood stand, with hanging blue tassels.
Batik is created by drawing designs on fabric using hot wax, which resists vegetable and other dyes, before soaking the cloth in dye, resulting in selective areas of coloration. The wax is then removed with boiling water and the processed repeated with other dyes if desired. It holds practical and symbolic centrality in Indonesian culture, being used in almost every part of life – from babies’ swaddling clothes to funerary shrouds, puppet theatre, carpets, weddings and royal ceremony. Today batik is recognised by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.