The Making of Anggrek

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"This batik tells the story of tender patience and perennial beauty."

Some of our collections draw on very personal stories, and Anggrek is one of them. A couple of years ago, my dear father was diagnosed with chronic kidney illness. Refusing invasive treatment, he made the decision to ride out the illness to the end. There was a prognosis. Being closely knit, this undoubtedly hit our family like a ton of bricks — both his decision and the prognosis. But he remained firm, stoic and unwavering. 

I dealt with it in all the ways that was available to me by (over)working, problem-solving, and praying. In a bid to remember the good times, I started digging through an archive of memories digitally and in my head, racking my brains for all the details that made our relationship. It was heavy and frustrating, until one day I realised I only needed to do one thing: Be Present.

The meditative process of batik crafting encourages us to be present in the moment

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And that is how the story of Anggrek started coming to me. My father has a natural ability with plants, herbs and flowers, and he nurtured them in a neat little garden in the confines of the HDB corridor. I remember vividly stepping out of the lift on one one of my weekly visits to him gently stroking the leaves of an orchid plant. "How is it going?" I asked, knowing he had been tending to this particular one that he had bought as a gift for my mom's birthday. In its prime, it bore little yellow orchids. "It will flower again soon, just needs some sun." And it did.

My dad and some of his plants.

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This act of care spurred me to conceptualise orchids in batik. As is the nature of batik and its ability to preserve generational stories with motif and wax, Anggrek immortalises a memory of enduring love. A story of tender patience and perennial beauty that will last lifetimes.

Anggrek in Rose, an exquisite, rustic colourway

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Anggrek is a fully hand painted piece, with motifs carefully dyed and waxed to achieve gradients in colour only possible with careful craft. It comes in two rustic colour ways, brown and rose. Anggrek is part of my longer term personal project called Lorong Puspa that is still taking shape. I can't wait to see how it will pan out, but for now, enjoy Anggrek in our signature silhouettes for Hari Raya and beyond.