Iwan Tirta Private Collection is committed to preservinge batik as an essential element of an Indonesian heritage. After years of continuing Iwan Tirta’s legacy of batik works, the fashion house decided to apply the batik patterns into furniture. Along with the prominent architect Hidajat Endramukti, Iwan Tirta Home Collection enables thisthe tangible reminder of our heritage to be included in our living spaces and to fit seamlessly withbe a part of our intangible heritage throughout everyday modern life, culture and sweet memories.
Photo by Bagus Tri Laksono
Iwan Tirta Private Collection has witnessed how people appreciate, preserve and wear batik with pride. They have supported these positive actions by expanding the batik-wearing movement to the home décor industry through the Iwan Tirta Home. Each of the products in the Iwan Tirta Home exposes a different batik pattern and is made with the very best materials in the country. Iwan Tirta aimed that batik could be preserved not only on textile or exclusively in the fashion industry, but applied in different mediums and functions, as the maestro himself has done with several home decorations in luxurious homes in Menteng, Jakarta.
Iwan Tirta Home sets itself among Indonesian high-end home décor brands with its luxurious designs. Its first collection, Regalia, illustrates an upscale lifestyle that was inspired by earlier Javanese kingdoms. Iwan Tirta Private Collection started this line in early 2016 with a sofa, a single seat chair and an end table. The majestic proportion of the products makes a bold visual impression, while the material selection reveals the royal ambiance with their velvet covering – a kind of textile that was only worn by the royals and frequently worn in highly anticipated celebrations such as weddings. The regal theme is repeated in the details of the furniture with a Modang motif carved on the tabletop and at the lower edge of the sofa.
At the end of 2016, Hidajat Endramukti jointly design for the Iwan Tirta Home. As a top architect in the country, Hidajat consistently refers to Indonesian culture in his works. We can feel the emotion, ethnicity and soul in the rooms he designs, just like the way we feel when seeing and wearing batik.
Hidajat is indeed best known for his modern design with ethnic twists. Aside from his works, his family are avid batik collectors. “It started when my grandmother passed down more than one hundred pieces of hand-written batik to me. I began to develop a passion for batik, and started to appreciate and collect from this exceptional heritage,” expresses Hidajat.
In Regalia Collection, Hidajat balances the rich ethnic pieces with a coffee table, a credenza and a carpet. He designed the coffee table and credenza in a modern style, using small detailed batik patterns as the decoration. “The repetition of the small patterns mimicks the ones our ancestors and craftsmen used frequently in their batik,” Hidajat adds.
He used a Sawunggaling pattern in the carpet that highlights the strength and pride of the royals. The graphic is made on a big scale so it becomes a focal point of the interior. This large-scale pattern has been a signature of the Iwan Tirta Private Collection. He also selected several drawings of batik patterns and arranged them in frames for wall decorations.
The Iwan Tirta Home was formally launched as a celebration of National Batik day on 2 October 2017, having caught the attention of many people since it was displayed at the Iwan Tirta Private Collection flagship store in Plaza Indonesia from early August 2017. For an extra feel of exclusivity, Iwan Tirta Home commit that they will only make limited numbers of each product in the Iwan Tirta Home Collection.
By having this collection in our home, a batik-wearing lifestyle becomes holistic from what we wear to how we decorate our living spaces. Regalia Collection allows families to live like royals and encourages them to enjoy our majestic Indonesian heritage on a daily basis.