Batik beauty!

By Fathima Riznaz Hafi

Saduni Batik, as its name implies, offers products made of batik ranging from clothes to home décor and tableware and is run by seasoned entrepreneur Premarathna Midigaspage. Having started from humble beginnings decades back in 1978 Premarathna worked hard and persevered to develop his passion for batik into a successful business and is now reaping the benefits – he runs two shops, has a house of his own, provides his family with a comfortable life and has successfully raised and educated all three of his children. 

As I entered their big beautiful housein Boralesgamuwa, I noted the use of batik practically everywhere – wall hangings, table cloth and even cushion covers on their sofa. In fact his wife and daughter were also wearing clothes made out of batik. This family just loves their batik!

Still humble in nature after achieving success, Premarathna, full of smiles, sat down with the Weekend FT and spoke about his journey and the batik goods he passionately produces by hand. By his side was his daughter Shashini Dulangi.

Humble beginnings

Premarathna was born into a poor family of four boys and four girls. His family suffered due to financial problems but he studied hard and overcame the problems. He completed his studies in 1970 and in 1972 he worked as a designer during which time he learnt how to make batik. 

In 1975, he was accepted in a higher learning institute to study Fine Arts but because of his family’s financial situation he had to let go of that opportunity. He later worked for the Irrigation Department. During these years he tried out some batik designs and sold them to workshops – only the designs. 

In 1978 he started his own batik business full-time. He also got married that year and soon after, his business bloomed. “My business started to expand after the arrival of my wife Neetha Jayaweera – the luck and talent she brought in helped my business flourish. She knows stitching and I know batik. With our knowledge combined, together we grew this business,” he said, adding that his siblings also helped. They now have around 10 trainees working under them.

“I was a supplier for Air Lanka for 15 years, from 1985 to 2000, selling inflight duty free batik wall hangers. I was also a supplier for Tangerine Hotel, Kalutara in the 1980s, providing batik serviettes, table cloths and wall hangers.”

His proud moment arrived when he won the ‘National Handicrafts Awards 2014’ and bagged the Bronze medal and certificate from the National Crafts Council for his wall hanger. He won second place – Western Province and third place – island-wide. Then in 2015 he won another award from them again for his wall hanger.  

Products

In his range of clothing are shirts, sarongs, sarees, kurtha tops, shalwars, kaftans and dresses while his tableware products are serviettes, table cloths, table runners and table mats. The home décor products are wall hangings and cushion covers. I have a feeling there are more to come because he keeps expanding his range. Premarathna personally designs each piece by hand and his talent and passion are evident in his meticulous work with unique designs and vibrant colours. 

“In the past we used traditional designs because foreigners like that but now I’m doing traditional and modern together. Modern art involves a lot of abstract work and I’ve been doing that also. I learnt the Indonesian waxing and dyeing techniques and started experimenting with that. Some dyes are harmful for the skin and can cause allergic reactions but we use 95% safe dyes that have non-allergic effect. We use quality material at a reasonable price.”

“This batik industry is not a difficult business to start but nowadays young people are not interested. Waxing is a technique that requires concentration and takes some time, it’s like meditating – they don’t have patience to do that.”

“The cost of raw material is also a problem. In 1970-1977 the price of raw material was too high; then the Sirimavo Government helped. If the present Government helps, perhaps by reducing taxes, it would be easier for people who make batik products to buy raw material. We can make the product well and this would boost the industry! The Government is not involved in this industry so the material is obtained from private companies,” he added.

“Veterans like Soma Udubage made this art flourish in Sri Lanka. It is thanks to people like her that we have batik in the country and I’m able to do this business. I am very grateful to them for bringing this art to me,” he said.

His business has bloomed beyond expectation and he now supplies his batik products to foreign countries like UK, Australia, Japan and US. He has a shop in Boralesgamuwa (Saduni Batik) and another in Nugegoda (Ama Batik). 

Having mastered the art of making batik clothes, he is now experimenting with new material and has started on silk, chiffon, viscose, linen and georgette; producing scarves, shawls, dresses and sarees. 

Following father’s footsteps

He has three children – one son and two daughters. He sent his son to UK for further studies and he is now married and lives there with his wife who decided to study management so she could play her part in her father-in-law’s business by contributing to the management side of it. His son knows his fair share about textiles and is helping his father all the way from UK to market his products there. 

The second child was sent to Japan through a scholarship for teacher training in Japanese and is now a Japanese teacher. She helps her father communicate with his Japanese clients. His youngest daughter Shashini wanting to follow his footsteps studied fashion design. She graduated with a Diploma in Fashion Design from LIFT and even won an award for ‘Best Innovative Textile Design’, and has branched off to do her own business in dress designing while still helping her father with his business.

Premarathna has unintentionally gotten his whole family interested in the art and Saduni Batik has now turned into a small family business under his guidance. “I actually named my business after my three children. The first two letters ‘Sa’ come from my son whose name is Sanjeewa, the second two letters ‘du’ come from my daughter Dulangi and the last two letters ‘ni’ come from my other daughter ‘Nilanka’,” he said.  

Time to help others

Now that he is well established in the industry and has achieved financial stability, he tries to help other people – the underprivileged in particular – to achieve prosperity by teaching them the art that brought him to where his is today. First he started helping his relatives and after the tsunami, he has been teaching batik designing for free to the Mahila Society which is an island-wide community for women, to help them build their lives. In Ratnapura – Kanadola village he taught villagers batik work for free a few years ago and now they’ve started their own businesses.

Premarathna’s love of batik, his perseverance and the support of his family have slowly but surely brought him to where he is today. Here’s congratulating Premarathna on achieving success and wishing him many more years of it.

Pix by Shehan Gunasekara