Batik designer goes ‘wild’ with inspiration
KUALA LUMPUR: Wan Mohammed Fauzi Wan Abdullah, 55, is adding his spin on traditional batik design by incorporating elements of animal prints, the African safari and Egypt.
The founder of Syg Batique said these unique elements in his batik design had garnered interest from batik fans in countries like the Netherlands and Australia, adding that he planned on marketing his line in Brunei too.
“Among the animal print patterns that I have chosen are the zebra, giraffe, tiger, fish scales and snake,” he said.
Wan Mohammed Fauzi said the idea of using such elements came to him after he studied magazines and videos. He would first sketch the design on paper.
“I will experiment with the idea, whether it is suitable to use wax, thickness of the wax to be used, and what fabric to use,” said the seventh of 12 siblings who set up his company in 2013.
Wan Mohammed Fauzi said while all designs might look pretty on paper, “not all looked nice on cloth”.
“That’s why I need to test it out first to make sure the designs are suitable for fabrics such as chiffon, satin and crepe,” he said.
He said only these types of fabrics were suitable for animal print designs, adding that the process was not easy as he had to consider the thickness of the wax, cloth and temperature.
The selection of dyes also gave a variation to his designs, such as the use of colours for the “African safari” batik, he said, adding that he used black in all his designs.
He said the dyes were specially ordered from Germany, and that it took up to 10 hours a day to produce three to four pieces of batik cloth.
“Those who would like to learn about batik design can come to my boutique in Klang,” he said.
Wan Mohammed Fauzi, who idolises Italian fashion designer Roberto Cavalli, learned batik design in Kelantan in 1998 before concentrating on batik production in 2000. — Bernama