Narrative appraisal of Malaysian neo-traditional batik design produced by young designers

• Main Author: Abdullah, Fadzidah
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: IIUM Press 2023
• Subjects: N Fine Arts; ND Painting; NE Print media; NX Arts in general; NX440 History of the arts
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/110048/7/110048_Narrative%20appraisal%20of%20Malaysian.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/110048/; https://journals.iium.edu.my/kaed/index.php/dij/article/view/849/626

Batik is one of the traditional craftsmanship that the Malays in Malaysia continue to safeguard for their cultural sustainability. Batik is an art of decorating cloth with colourful patterns, and the Malay normally designs batik with the themes of flora and fauna; organic shapes; and geometrical patterns. This article has the aim to narratively appraise the neo-traditional batik design, produced by a group of young designers. The appraisal is conducted based on the inclination of design motifs and the source of design inspirations. The appraisal is qualitatively conducted using visual analysis and narrative appraisal methods. The group of young batik designers participated in the project is consisted of 61 individuals, who had undertaken a short research project on traditional batik design, and then carried out their venture to produce neo-traditional batik design. The results of batik designs were visually analysed and categorised based on the observed design motifs and the designers’ described sources of inspiration. Nevertheless, only few selected batik designs would be appraised narratively in this article, to provide samples of stimuluses for batik designer-to-be. This narrative appraisal is hoped to motivate young designers to venture into batik design exploration with high level of cultural understanding and expressive attachment.