I am not risking it all but I just want to be fair with my potential. I believe that one of the chief entrepreneurial drive is to contribute to better living conditions for our loved ones. The energy and resources dedicated to promote Lurik have created in me a lifetime passion for the magic stripes in this traditional hand woven material. One cherished memory is my wedding day on January 13th 2002 when I wore the traditional Lurik dress code of my big family.
It is my mother who is the true Daughter of Klaten. Is she had not pursued nursing education, she would not have left her place of birth and chosen a career for herself. In doing so she was able to raise choice which had raised me and three other siblings with so many life opportunities. Now during her retirement, at least once a year she goes back to Klaten especially a week prior to Holy Ramadhan month to clean up our grandparents’ cemetery.
For one year I joined the emergency and recovery efforts in Klaten after severe earthquake badly hit the area at the end of May 2006. Some parts of the area were extremely impacted and this included a number of Lurik production centres. Some charitable and development assistance has helped them regain production. Thanks to the recent trend in Indonesia of again recognizing Batik as the preferred fabric, its production has increased and leveraged the everyday household economic condition of the artisans.
Having been living in Bali as proud mother of 2 years old son with some years of experience in development work I am confident of moving forward in the pursuit of ‘creating space’ in the market for Lurik – beautiful stripes from Java. Without a shared vision, shared values and shared practices from my partner, friends and colleagues and their strong support and cooperation these creations would never materialize.
Daughter of Klaten, at the beginning of her endeavour, aims to make Lurik a centre for creativity and channel for talented women to create precious crafts.
It is with love in my heart and love for the life of others that I would like to close with a quote from a great leader inspired me not to give up and to keep moving on ‘Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything.’
