The beauty of furoshiki
THIS Christmas, Malaysian natural beauty brand The Olive Tree collaborated with talented artisans from Nysakapas and sew X dignity to create reusable furoshiki gift wrap and travel pouches.
The brand was mesmerised by how Nysakapas artisans breathe new life to the traditional art of batik block printing (“batik terap”) by infusing contemporary designs.
The design of the brass mould featured The Olive Tree’s olive leaves design which was sketched by Nysa, exclusively for the brand.
This design was then conveyed to the highly skilled brass mould craftsman, who then created a mould that still retains its unique hand sketch design.
After the brass mould is ready, the artisans will heat up the wax and dip the brass mould into the hot wax and apply it onto the cotton fabric.
Nysa’s batik terap is a labour intensive and time consuming work of art which beautifully combines the elements of nature (i.e. wind, sun and rain) to create exquisite batik.
After receiving the batik fabric from Nysa, the brand sent the finished fabric to sew X dignity to turn the lovely batik fabric into reusable furoshiki wraps and travel pouches.
At sew X dignity, underprivileged refugee youths are taught the fundamentals of sewing, designing and entrepreneurial skills which come in handy for them in future to achieve financial independence.
“We worked with them because equipping the youths with essential trade skills and entrepreneur skills is something that resonated with us and we ensured that they were fairly paid for their fine workmanship,” a spokesperson from The Olive Tree says in a statement.
Each piece of batik furoshiki and travel pouch seamlessly embodies the labour of love by the artisans from both Nysakapas and sew X dignity.
The brand’s festive gift sets include the versatile and reusable batik furoshiki in an assortment of colours. – Sandra Low