[Kristin]

By: Alice Budisatrijo

Source: www.fashionpromagazine.com

Walk into any fancy soiree in Jakarta and you are as likely to find an Obin batik shawl as an Hermes handbag.
The former may not be familiar to those outside Indonesia but if anyone could change that, it is the shawl's cloth maker, Josephine Komara, better known as Obin.
The 57-year-old is widely credited with transforming batik from the compulsory outfit of politicians' wives at state functions into the fashion choice of trendy professionals at cocktail parties.
Batik is a traditional Indonesian method of decorating fabric using wax to create patterns on cloth that is dyed.
Obin started collecting Indonesian antique textiles in her teens. In 1986 she opened Bin House, now a renowned fashion house in the capital Jakarta's upscale Menteng neighbour hood.
"The shop encroaches into my home, that is why it's called Bin House," she said.
"The first shop existed when the first person who came in to my house said: 'I would like to buy a piece of cloth'. Then it became a shop."
Her first customers were her interior designer and decorator friends who were looking for curtains, upholstery and pillowcases.

Source: www.fimela.com

The cloths only became wearable after hand-weaving and hand-spinning techniques were perfected over several years, she said.
Today hand-woven sarongs and shawls of her custom-made batik are worn by Indonesia's rich and famous, with some pieces costing $1,000 (£621).
Bin House employs more than 1,000 artisans and its shops can be found in Bali, Japan and Singapore.
Obin plans to open a museum to display her textile collection in Bali in 2013.
She is best known for pioneering the application of batik designs onto hand-woven silk fabrics.


Article Source: http://www.bbc.com/