The Batik Brass of TelangAssalamualaikum and Hello to my dearest Batiklovers,
It's 2023! A new hopeful year! It's always refreshing when it comes to January just because our new Batik Collection is already out! Yes, entittled " Penawar". Every Collection is to be honest about my journey. It started in 2020 when i started naming our collections, symbolic yes! i must say naming them seems like fate, very funny how each collection is fit so well.
If you remember our past collections,
2020 - ILHAM
2021 - BOTANIK
2022 - HIAS
and now,
2023 - PENAWAR
Each Collection is a labour of love. Love for Handmade Batiks as a medium and Love for Creativity as a way of life. So much growth in Nysakapas, so much reflection and life lessons. Everyday my team and i are learning something new. At the heart of every collection is an eagerness to learn. We are motivatedby those pleasant feelings that we experience when learning, wonder, suprise and fulfillment.We learn by trying and sometimes failing. Ultimately, we learn from experience.
"Penawar" is a Malay Term from healing. For me, "Penawar" is about taking that leap to turn anything negativity to something that is more positive and good. And i am translating this transformation, from the emotional part of inner creativity and apply them into the motifs that make for our Handmade Batik designs and process. Because making batiks gives me the freedom of expressing my feelings, so this is my confident self, creating a collection that hopefully inspires people. Motifmaking is very important to me, i don't have the ability sometimes to explain what i do, but motifmaking is very important in making a successful collection.
To nurture these healing concept into our craft, I have chosen local flowers that are used in Terengganu Traditional Cooking. Before i explain more, I have to give credit to Aliah Mardhiyyah Ab Rahim, a student from the Faculty of Fine Arts and Design, Seri Iskandar, Perak who was with us for her practical program. We both took time to really evaluate and brainstorm this "Penawar" Collection and we want it to traditional flowers or something memorable from our life here in Terengganu. And Alhamdulillah, we came up with a few flowers that is used in Traditional Terengganu Malay Cooking. As simple as it may sound, it was very complicated at first to draw and make them into Batik Motifs-nervewrecking because we were very busy during those months last year and times just went by incredibly fast for us to sit down and slowly digest the whole idea of "Penawar"
In this blogpost, i will elaborate abit on the first motif of this collection is a called "Batik Telang".
"Batik Telang"
Telang (Clitoria ternatea) is commonly known as Asian pigeonwings, Bluebellvine, Blue pea, Butterfly Pea, Cordofan pea or Darwin pea. The genus name is Clitoria, a direct translation from the local name of this plant in the Ternate language; which called as Telang, literally means "clitoris" due to its shape that resembles the shape of human female genitals.
It is grown as an ornamental plant and as a revegetation species requiring little care when cultivated. The flower is used as a natural food colouring to colour glutinous rice and desserts as well as a Traditional medicine. In our kampung, here in Terengganu, it is an important ingredient in “Nasi Kerabu”, giving it its characteristic bluish colour.
Its extracts possess a wide range of pharmacological activities including antimicrobial, antipyretic, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, diuretic, local anesthetic, antidiabetic, insecticidal, blood platelet aggregation-inhibiting and for use as a vascular smooth muscle relaxing properties.
Batik Telang is made from two Batik Brasses. To define this perennial herbaceous plant as a motif, we have included its elliptic, obtuse leaves. It is handblocked in such a way that it seems like a vine or creeper. Symbolic and pretty, that’s our Batik Telang, our very first motif from the Penawar 2023 Batik Collection!
And yes, the first clue is given. One of my favourite meals in Terengganu is their "Nasi Kerabu". Absolutely a fun meal to eat because to eat this rice meal you need to toss and we say here "gaul" to mix all the vegetables and herbs with sweet grated coconut and amazing coconut gravy that simply goes well with rice that is infused with the "Telang" flower. That sad blue tone, is simply happiness when we eat Nasi Kerabu, amazing with barbequed chicken or fish and sometimes if you are lucky, lamb(i knowww-so good!)
So, yes that is one remarkable flower with so much healing power! The natural world is always suprising us with it's natural hidden benefits especially if we are able to consume it in our life.I do hope you love our "Batik Telang". It comes in this gorgeous pinkclay colour, called "Singgora" which is inspired by the local Traditional Terengganu Roof tiles.
Do check out our Handmade Batiks from the "Penawar" Collection.
Till my next blogpost Batiklovers!
Much Love,
Nysa
Handblocking Batik Telang
Nysakapas Batik Studio, Kampung Serada
Batik Telang in Singgora