Iwan Tirta Batik

Iwan Tirta: Introducing Indonesia's Royal Art to the World

Nursjirwan Tirtaamidjaja, also known as Iwan Tirta, is one of the Indonesia's most celebrated batik artists and designers. His collections are well-known and so are his boutiques, extravagant fashion shows, and fabric designs. Iwan Tirta is often credited with introducing Indonesia batik to the rest of the world.

Iwan Tirta studied at the London School of Economics and Yale Law School. His love for batik blossomed when he won a research grant from The John D. Rockerfeller III Fund. Iwan Tirta embarked on a research project into the sacred dances of the Susuhunan of Surakarta Royal Court. There, surrounded by the life of Central Java Courts, he nurtured his newfound interest in Javanese fabric. His interest was stimulated by his mother's batik collection, which included some of Indonesia's best batiks.

He soon recognized the importance to document and preserve the arts and crafts of batik. He undertook the responsibility to record the evolution of batik and spent weeks in the museums, towns and villages collecting samples and tracing the art's origin and development.

The second stage of his "batik consciousness" culminated in 1966 when he completed a book called Batik Pattern and Motifs, detailing the historical and sociological aspects of batik.

Iwan Tirta has successfully taken Batik to a new level. Elements of design were reconstructed, revived, and brought up-to-date, thus keeping batik's existence in Indonesia as well as in the world.

His sumptuous and contemporized yet traditional design have appeared in the pages of international magazine such as Voque, Harper's Bazaar, Architecture's Digest, New York Times, Asia Weeks, National Geographic and others.

Iwan Tirta at Wijaya Gallery
with Merak Abyor Hokokai
wall hanging in the background.

His loyal admirers are ranging from every level of the society, including the aristocracy and royalty. He has staged exhibitions and fashion shows for Indonesia's first ladies and for the Indonesian government, showcasing his collections for visiting heads of state and royal members such as Queen Elizabeth II, Queen Sophie of Spain, Queen Juliana of Netherland and Bill Clinton.

He has also presented special and custom-designed Iwan Tirta batik for each heads of state that came for the Asia Pacific Economic Conference held in Jakarta in 1994.

At the opening session of the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference in November 1994 in Jakarta.
Eighteen attending heads of state wore silk batik shirt, given to them by President Soeharto
as the host and designed by Iwan Tirta. This photograph was taken at the back of
the Presidential Palace in Bogor, West Java.

Lady Margareth Thatcher
and Iwan Tirta

	For the Prime Minister of New Zealand, a pattern incorporating ferns and lilies was created according to the traditional lozenge geometric composition.		The batik shirt for the Prime Minister of Japan was designed showing chrysanthemums and cherry blossoms, arranged according to the classic ksatryan pattern from Yogyakarta.

	The Prime Minister of Singapore was presented with this silk batik shirt, incorporating the national flower of Singapore, the orchid. The flowers were arranged according to the traditional non-geometric motif called semen.		The silk batik presented to the Prime Minister of Canada incorporates the national symbol of Canada which is the maple leaf, arranged according to the traditional Javanese semen pattern.

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