Cirebon (ANTARA News) - Since batik was officially recognized as an Indonesian world heritage and intellectual property, sales at Cirebon`s Trusmi batik center have risen sharply.

A number of tradesmen and craftsmen at the center said on Wednesday, the number of buyers had risen since October 2, 2009 when UNESCO announced Batik`s recognition as a world cultural heritage item.

Ms. Yatik, a Batik trader on Jalan Plered, said buyers at her place came from outside Cirebon, particularly from Jakarta.

They generally looked for batik priced above Rp600,000 and and of different patterns as well as motifs.

"The batik hunters are mostly housewives in search for different patterns and motifs from what is available in their hometowns," she said.

She said , a number of housewives from Jakarta looked for batik motifs and patterns not to be found in Jakarta.

To serve such buyers, traders and craftsmen are enriching their pattern and motifs also to make every product different from another.

"We`re always looking for new motifs for our batik cloth to meet consumers` tastes," said Sumiati, a craftswoman.

She said that Trusmi batik producers had an average of 15 employees with some of them as "disigners."

Anther batik entrepreneur in Cirebon, H. Asiwa, said before October 2, 2009, customers generally bought ready-to-wear batik dresses.

But now many visitors looked for woven rather than machine-made batik fabrics in the price range of Rp600,000 to Rp3 million.

With many more people now interested in their products, batik makers were more motivated to improve the quality of their products, he said.(*)

Editor: Aditia Maruli
COPYRIGHT © 2012

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