A Development Of Visual Element Of Batik Ornaments As A Batik Preservation Attempt (Case Study: Batik Rifa’iyah)

Abstract

Nowadays, there are many cultural heritage of Indonesia that are threaten to extinct which caused by Indonesian young generation’s low interest on the said cultural heritage, such as batik Rifa’iyah.

Batik Rifa’iyah is a kind of batik which its ornaments’ visualization is based on Syaikh Ahmad Rifa’i teachings, a National Hero of Republic of Indonesia as well as an ulama, whose Islam actions purely emphasized on madzhab Imam Syafi’i and ahlul sunnah wal jama’ah. As far as it is known, documentations discussing about batik Rifa’iyah are very limited, while Rifa’iyah people have started making new batik alternatives without preserving the uniqueness of batik Rifa’iyah’s motif, so that batik Rifa’iyah is threaten to extinct.

Preservation attempts on cultural heritage can be conducted by introducing and developing ornaments of Indonesian cultural heritage following graphic design trends nowadays to attract young generation’s interest.

In this research and creative working process, there are field survey, interview with some Rifa’iyah public figure, batik public figure and local people to know batik Rifa’iyah and its ornaments development using visual element exploration based on dwimatra theory of Wucius Wong, exploration of ornaments visual element based on aesthetic theory of Dharsono Sony Kartika and Nanang Ganda Perwira, and exploration of ornaments color element based on Sulasmi Darmaprawira.

It is expected that this project will give contribution in preserving the Indonesian cultural heritage.


Keywords : batik, Rifa’iyah, preserving, fashion