Rusiana Makki, empowering women through 'tapis'

Oyos Saroso, Bandarlampung

Tapis is an indispensable part of life for many people in Lampung. The traditional fabric made and developed by the women of Lampung for generations has become a symbol of the region.

The woven material, embroidered with gold and silk thread, continues to be produced by home industries, providing a reliable livelihood for many women in Lampung's villages.

The beauty of the embroidery and the artistic value reflected by pieces of old tapis make the antique works targets of collectors from abroad. Usually, the older the tapis fabric the more expensive it becomes.

One of the local women benefiting from collectors' growing interest in tapis is Rusiana Makki. The 58-year-old has become a business success thanks to her collection of antique tapis pieces and her modern handicraft business. With dozens of craftswomen and a network of owners of antique tapis across Lampung, she opened Galeri Tapis Tangan Emas 10 years ago. The gallery now yields an average monthly profit of Rp 30 to 40 million (US$3,300 to $4,400) from orders for new tapis pieces alone. Her antique tapis business is more lucrative, with a single piece selling for Rp 75 million or more.

Apart from foreign tapis collectors, buyers of Rusiana's old tapis include local enthusiasts and museum curators. Lampung's Ruwa Jurai Museum, for instance, recently purchased several antique pieces from the collection of Rusiana. Later a large company in Lampung bought dozens of tapis pieces for its museum.
Rusiana said that when she started her tapis business in 1996, she knew very little about this traditional material, despite having been a collector of old tapis since the 1980s.

Before hiring craftswomen, she bought tapis fabric and added ornaments like beads. Rusiana was convinced that with perseverance the business would be promising. So she began recruiting women to be trained as craftswomen.

Rusiana now employs at least 40 tapis makers. Some work at her residence, but most work from their own homes in Talangpadang, Tanggamus regency.

""They have become breadwinners as well. Tapis is indeed identified with women,"" Rusiana said.

Born in Sukadana, East Lampung, on Jan. 19, 1948, Rusiana has new hires taught by senior craftswomen how to embroider and adorn tapis fabric for about a week. Among Lampung's upper middle class, Galeri Tangan Emas is known as a modern tapis producer and many officials and celebrities come here and buy tapis wedding attire and accessories.

""The orders I receive from dignitaries and wealthy socialites for their wedding ceremonies in Lampung can reach hundreds of millions of rupiah. Besides the sets of wedding clothes for brides and grooms, they also order tapis clothes for the couples' parents and relatives,"" Rusiana said.

She said she was not all that interested in expanding the business by opening galleries in other regions or enlarging her business scale. ""My gallery has not joined any exhibitions as I have no staff to help me. I just control the business at home and customers come to me,"" she said.

Rusiana noted that her business faced almost no obstacles and its risk was very small. ""The management of work schedules may be the only problem because my employees are not bound by contracts so they can quit any time. But those already enjoying the remuneration for their work are usually industrious. They get hundreds of thousands of rupiah for a tapis piece and the faster they work the more they earn.""

Though only produced by cottage industries, Rusiana voiced her conviction that tapis could improve the living standards of people in Lampung and lift them out of poverty.

""Sadly, only a few indigenous citizens of Lampung are aware of it, while outsiders have learned the ancient craft and spread it to other regions. In Kendal, Central Java, a businessman has succeeded in this business,"" she said.

Batik pun Jadi Milik Malaysia

Malaysia akan meluncurkan buku tentang sejarah industri batik mereka pada Jumat mendatang. Buku berjudul 'Malaysian Batik: Reinventing a Tradition' itu akan diluncurkan dalam Konvensi dan Pameran Batik Internasional Kuala Lumpur (KLIB) 2011.

Buku ini berisi sejarah batik, bahan-bahan, metode membatik dengan tangan dan cap, serta cara batik Malaysia bertransformasi dengan kehadiran batik internasional. Rencananya, buku ini akan diluncurkan oleh mantan Perdana Menteri Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi di The Kuala Lumpur Convention Center.

Kepala Eksekutif Yayasan Budi Penyayang, Datuk Leela Mohd Ali mengatakan peluncuran buku ini sebagai bagian dari inisiatif yayasan untuk menyesuaikan industri batik Malaysia dengan mode saat ini.

"Kami kini berada pada fase enam, dan peluncuran buku ini sangat istimewa karena menandakan kreativitas Malaysia dan kebangkitan industri batik," katanya seperti dikutip Bernama.

KLIB ini diselenggarakan oleh Yayasan Budi Penyayang bekerja sama dengan Kementerian Pariwisata Malaysia. Temanya 'Bisnis Batik', akan menampilkan segmen khusus pada "Kerajinan Batik" yang terdiri dari prototipe dari kategori kerajinan tangan dalam Kompetisi Piala Seri Endon.

"Ada tiga kategori untuk pertandingan seri Endon, yaitu fashion, kerajinan halus, dan kerajinan tangan," kata Leela.

KLIB akan menampilkan lebih dari 100 stand yang terkait produk maupun jasa batik lokal dan internasional. Selain itu, juga ada presentasi oleh 19 ahli batik di berbagai bidang, dari orang-orang yang telah mengembangkan kebijakan pada industri kerajinan di negaranya masing-masing.

Di Indonesia, batik juga dikenal sebagai warisan budaya. Literatur-literatur soal batik juga telah ada. Batik Indonesia secara resmi diakui UNESCO dengan dimasukkan ke dalam Daftar Representatif sebagai Budaya Tak-benda Warisan Manusia (Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity) dalam Sidang ke-4 Komite Antar-Pemerintah (Fourth Session of the Intergovernmental Committee) tentang Warisan Budaya Tak-benda di Abu Dhabi Oktober 2009. (adi)

Sumber:  http://dunia.news.viva.co.id/news/read/269809-malaysia-luncurkan-buku-sejarah-batik