Malaysia Star, Malaysia
KUALA LUMPUR: Batik will make a debut at Harrods next March with the Raja Permaisuri Agong, Tuanku Nur Zahirah, promoting the Malaysian art in London.
According to Datin Seri Shuryani Shuaib, wife of Unity, Culture, Arts and Heritage Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal, the Queen was set to launch a variety of batik products at the upmarket English department store.
The Queen will promote our nation’s high quality batik crafts, clothes and ceramics, which will hopefully further penetrate the foreign market,” she said in her speech yesterday during the first anniversary celebration of Galeri Seri Endon in Bukit Damansara.
Shuryani who launched the event, also hoped batik would capture the world’s attention and be used widely.
Previously, batik was promoted in Italy, Australia and Britain.
Nori Abdullah, Yayasan Budi Penyayang chairman said detailed research should be devoted to batik to produce more innovative products.
She also hoped batik would be 100% environmentally friendly in the future with the use of natural dyes and the art form would continue to be appreciated as part of Malaysian culture.
“Each batik embodies the dreams and hopes of Malaysians and my mother, the late Endon would have dreaded to think we would all end up not knowing our own heritage,” Nori said in her speech read out by Yayasan Budi Penyayang chief executive officer Datuk Leela Mohd Ali as Nori is overseas in Perth, Australia.
Penyayang is the brainchild of Datin Paduka Seri Endon Mahmood.
The anniversary celebration saw models parading modern batik fashion by local designers and Piala Seri Endon winners Zoe Tan, Azizi Hassan, Masrina Abdullah, Micheal Shu and Suhairi Marlina.
