Journey with batik to Situ Medura
 

by Aditha Dissanayake

Today everything is about feeling and touching. Moods and moments. Harmony and unity. Textures and colors. Dyes and dyeing.

Batik. Seemingly the art of negation. Batik, the Indonesian-Malay word that denotes a textile design accomplished by negative dyeing. Batik, the generic term which refers to the process of creating intricate designs through a "resist technique" covering certain areas of cloth with melted wax to prevent it from absorbing colors, to make light patterns on dark backgrounds.

Batik, the lifeblood of a young entrepreneur intent on adding new color to the world through his creations. Lishan Wickramanayake, the Twenty-eight year old Managing Director of Prasanna Batiks is determined to keep the torches burning in the local batik industry till he breaths his last. "I took over the business five years ago and I have realized this is where I belong. I will be here for the rest of my life".

The company was founded by his father, Soloman Dias Wickramanayake in 1973 and Lishan says twenty five years later when he became the Managing Director, the business was in dismal states.

"When I took over, the market for our products had collapsed, the downhill trend having begun with the explosion of the bomb at the Central Bank, because this affected the tourism industry, which in turn affected us. But I refused to give up and managed to raise the business from a state when we could not even earn enough to cover the costs, to what it is today by observing the changes in the market and changing ourselves to fit the needs of the customers".

Undoubtedly his degree in Business Management from the Manchester Metropolitan, U.K, helped. "For three months after I joined the company I observed how things were going on." Says Lishan. "I noticed the weak points like the inefficient management of finances, and realized we were waiting for the customers to come to us when it should have been the other way round."

Moving in on the kill, Lishan changed all the business strategies to suit the new trends in the market. Instead of catering to the foreign customers he turned his attention on the local market and instead of sticking to the conventional designs he revolutionized the local batik industry by turning it inside out and introducing bold, adventurous new styles.

Why is the business called Prasanna Batiks? Lishan grins and says "when my father started the business in a small hut adjoining one wall of the kitchen in our house, I wasn't born. He named it after my third brother, Prasanna, who was then the youngest in the family".

He says his mother Sylvia, with two girls to assist her had worked hard into the night in the simple workshop to bring out colorful sarongs, dresses, bed sheets and curtains which would soon become a household name as Prasanna Batiks.

Still twenty-eight and still single, Lishan says he is proud to continue the family business, in the absence of his brothers who are domiciled abroad and his father, who handed the reigns in 1998 to the children and is now content enjoying life in retirement. "Right now I'm married to the business," grins Lishan. "But in two more years..." His voice tails off. The possibilities of wedding bells? Yet to be seen.

End of subject on his personal life.Back to business. Lishan believes much of the popularity of batik can be attributed to the fact that it is durable. The colors in batik are much more resistant to wear than those of painted or printed fabrics because the cloth is completely immersed in dye and the areas not protected by resist are allowed to absorb hues to the extent that the colors will not easily fade.

Printed on cotton, silk or viscose when one buys a batik product one is guaranteed the color will not fade and the fabric will not shrink. You know a designer has arrived when his work crosses geographical boundaries. Lishan certainly fits the bill. Today Prasanna Batiks is exported to Japan, Dubai and the Maldives.

"Everyone should have a clear vision in life" says Lishan. "Once you know where you want to go, and once you make yourself believe you can get there, then, you will get there".

The practical, elegant and distinctive products at Prasanna Batiks is evidence that Lishan has "got there", achieved his vision, accomplished everything? But no. Not quite. He has got one more dream to achieve. Make Prasanna Batiks a brand name.

Undoubtedly, with his kind of determination and dedication this dream too will soon come true.

For more revealing details about Lishan Wickramanayake, the young Baron of Batik in the local business world watch Situ Medura tonight at 9.05 on ITN.