Batik

‘Batik‘ celebrates the art of batik painting, which arrived in Sri Lanka only a century ago from Java, but has been adapted by our island’s craftspeople. The underwater-themed wall hangings, bed linen, and accessories in this room were all designed by us and brought to life by a batik-painting family in Matara who run a small village industry. Melted wax is used to fill in sections of the designs, which are then dyed to color the unwaxed sections. The fabric is allowed to dry before being dipped into boiling water to remove the wax. The process is repeated until the picture is finished, adding new layers of color to unwaxed sections of fabric.