Contemporary Southern Batik to Sustainable Development

Abstract

Batik is recognized as one of the textile arts, which is outstanding and later become popular among the consumers. Currently, Batik manufacture is not only limited to have a specific manufacturing base in the South of Thailand but has also become widespread nationwide, blending with the wisdom of different regions. In this project, the researcher will discuss the wisdom of Batik production development in the South of Thailand only, as this region is the first place in Thailand that embraced the knowledge of Batik production science. Presently, even if there are plenty of government projects for the specialists and designers to participate in assisting the local artisans in Southern Batik development, the researcher notices that such projects are mostly to develop the skill of artisans and textile to be more contemporary. Therefore, the researcher recognizes the importance of knowledge development in manufacturing, rather than pattern development to be more contemporary. In addition, the researcher concentrates on the production process in the part of development research, which is recognized as “Technique,” instead. By doing so, the researcher can help  further expand the knowledge and bring about sutainability for the artisans to produce and select the technique for the different periods or occasions, and spread such expandable knowledge throughout the region, not only for the specific group of artisans. This project research aims to benefit the artisans in Batik production to create novel image of Batik and multi-dimensional contemporariness, not only to develop for the beautiful patterns.