His batik designs may be contemporary, but their roots are very much in the traditional style of making batik.
Founder and master craftsman of Bujins Batik (established in 2015), Amir Harith Mat Kassim or Bujin (his nickname from his grandparents) is not only renowned for his high-quality wearable art but also for his generosity in teaching students.
He teaches students from all walks of life, including persons with disabilities, the fine craft of creating beautiful artisan batik designs at his Bujins Academy in Kelantan.
Opened in 2017, the academy only takes in 20 people at a time.
“We even took in a student who had psychiatric problems. She found peace as she painted. Now she’s married and has settled down. So we can see that she has become successful in life,” Bujin said proudly.
Unfortunately, Bujins Academy was forced to close temporarily during the Covid-19 pandemic - but it will be re-opened soon.
To date, Bujins Academy has produced about 100 students, and some have gone on to the Piala Seri Endon themselves.
Piala Seri Endon is an annual batik design competition named after the late Endon Mahmood (wife of the fifth prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi), who was known for championing batik.
Bujins Batik has over the years dressed royalty, prime ministers (Abdullah onwards), ministers and various VIPs.
Bujins Academy has also hosted Kelantan’s Piala President football team who tried their hands at creating batik to help them focus.
Award-winning
Bujin has been entering art competitions since he was six years old. He attributed his artistic talents to his father, who was an art teacher.
“When I was 12, there was a batik competition in school that piqued my interest, so I entered the competition. I only seriously got into it full-time when I was 15. I would come back from school and start working on making batik. That was when I saw it as a business.
“In Kelantan, there are many people making batik, but I wanted to make batik that was different from what everyone else was doing. In Kelantan, when you talk about batik, the motif would usually be flowery.
"When people look at Bujins Batik, it is not limited to just flowers. Anything God created can be an inspiration and become a batik motif which can be turned into an art,” explained the 33-year-old.
Inspired by everything
Over the years, Bujin has bagged many awards and accolades to his name, one of them was the 2012 Piala Seri Endon organised by Yayasan Budi Penyayang.
In 2014, his works were showcased at the international ready-to-wear fashion show, ‘Who’s Next’ in Paris, France, and also in Capetown, South Africa, in 2013.
He has created batik inspired by current events such as flash floods, Covid-19 and even landscape. Essentially, what he creates are designs never attempted in the batik world before.
“People call my batik modern, but I never left my traditional roots. Ninety percent of the technique I use is traditional. The rest of modern motifs and techniques to make it accepted not only by Malaysians but people from other countries as well,” Bujin said.
He has always been proud to see people wearing his batik to functions, especially big kenduri.
“Now I feel proud when I see VIPs and dignitaries wearing batik. I once told my teachers that I will go beyond all that I have learned.
“When I was 15, I learned batik making from teachers from different districts. Most of them have passed on. I will carry what they taught me and their passion for the rest of my life,” Bujin said.
He added that there are only a handful of craftsmen left using the traditional methods of making batik in Malaysia today.
Batik has taken Bujin all over the world, such as to China and Thailand.
He recalled his teachers telling him that inspiration can be found in anything he sees. And that’s exactly what he did when he won his first Piala Endon on a design that was based on cherry blossoms he saw in Yunnan.
“When the jury asked me why I picked cherry blossoms, I told them that they represent love and I want people to fall in love when they see batik. When I get inspired, I do my research so that I can tell people the story behind my batik creations,” Bujin shared.
Revival of batik
The government has now required government servants to start wearing batik on Thursdays to promote its use and instil a love for it.
Asked if this helps to revive the love for batik, Bujins Batik co-founder Taufiq Hussien said: “It does help the industry when the government starts to talk about batik again.”
However, Taufik said most people think batik is the design.
“They don’t know that batik is a process, a technique.”
While so many bigwigs have worn batik from Bujins’, it is the ones worn by Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz that are making the most buzz.
Zafrul owns a few Bujins’ pieces, such as the inter-galaxy and betta scale designs.
“When people come to the store, they want the ones that Zafrul has worn. It made him look very elegant. That is what batik should be. When you wear it, you should feel proud,” said Taufik.
Bringing batik to the world
Taufiq met Bujin through a friend in 2015 during a Piala Seri Endon event. He was so taken by Bujin’s batik and the stories behind it, that he realised that he needed to help bring the designs to the forefront, not only in Malaysia but to the world as well.
This year, they are focusing on the local market and next year they have plans to go to international fashion shows again as they did before the pandemic.
Most of the sales are through private sales as VIPs, stylists and personal shoppers are the ones who buy Bujins products for their clients. They also go to the VIPs to showcase their products for their viewing pleasure.
Taufiq emphasised that Bujins is not championing mass-produced batik.
“It should be handmade; the craftsperson’s soul and technique must be in every piece of batik. A real batik maker can tell you what went into the piece of batik they created.
“They can talk about their experience when they created the design, such as they saw a bird fly by or something.
“So, there is a story. We want to tell people that this is an art and wear it.”
Taufiq said the problem with mass-produced batik textile is that it will end up stifling the creativity of the craftsmen and the actual value of batik.
Other than batik, Bujins Batik also sells batik accessories. They are also coming up with non-fungible tokens to increase the awareness and value of the batik they create.
“It is better that you know the history behind the batik you are wearing so you can share it with people. You can talk about the history behind it and the small details,” added Taufiq.
Cultural heritage
Very often the Malaysian batik industry had been compared to the Indonesian batik industry. Indonesian batik was added to Unesco's Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list in 2009.
Taufiq explained that that was just to show that batik is part of Indonesia’s heritage. It does not necessarily mean that batik comes from Indonesia.
“Wearing batik is not heritage, making batik is. If you go to Indonesia, in every village and even in the towns, there will be people who know how to produce batik.
“I’m sorry to say this, but Malaysia does not have the same culture or heritage anymore. We have a lot of people who want to wear batik but don’t know anything about how it is made,” Taufiq explained.
He hoped Malaysia could get the same kind of recognition as Indonesia. But this, he noted, would take the government, government agencies, batik makers and retailers to work together to make it part of the heritage.
“Batik should be reintroduced to Malaysia and the world as precious wearable art and also tradeable art. You can pass it to the next generation,” Taufiq concluded. - Mkini
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