In conjunction with the launch of the NAFA-BINhouse Men’s Collection, the Fashioning Batik panel sessions will present in-depth dialogue on designing new silhouettes with batik, the how-tos, challenges, and prospects of seeing more batik fashion.
PANEL 1 - 2:00–3:15 pm
Airlangga Sjah Komara, or Elang, is currently head of the Marketing and Sales Communications department, and sits on the board of directors of BINhouse Indonesian Creation. His exposure with BINhouse began at an early age, through his mother, Josephine Komara, who had a profound passion of Indonesian cultural heritage, especially textiles and batik. Throughout the years, he has gained extensive experience in the different operational aspects of the BINhouse brand, including product research & development, operational management, retail business development, to building enhanced brand experience with developing marketing tools, such as BINhouse events, exhibitions and online presence.
Anthony Tan is Vice Dean for the Fashion Studies Programme and Senior Lecturer in Fashion Studies at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts. He was with Cirque Du Soleil as a wardrobe/costume assistant for the production of Quidam in Singapore and Hong Kong in 2006. He was appointed as the costume designer for the 2007 National Day Parade, designing and supervising the production of more than 2000 pieces of costumes for the mass display performers. He has also conducted costume design workshops for the Esplanade’s Bitesize programme in 2012 and 2013.
Fashion designer Max Tan is known for his minimalistic yet distinctive silhouettes created from experiments in proportion and volume, and is inspired by the design language of heritage garments. Founded in 2010, his brand MAX.TAN found early success in the international press and was the first Asian label to showcase a collection at Modefabriek (2010), a trade event in Amsterdam for fashion industry professionals to build connections.
PANEL 2 - 3:30–4:30 pm
Tan Sheau Yun has worked in the media industry, trained in Asian decorative arts, and has a cerebral and sensual addiction to Chinese material culture. Her independent clothing store Tong Tong was started in 2006 as “an evangelising tool to draw unsuspecting shoppers into the lush material culture of Chinese civilisation.”
Aqilah Zailan is a Malay Singaporean of Javanese descent. She unpacks identity and memory through batik, a cloth synonymous with the peoples and cultures of the Malay Archipelago. With a focus on Javanese batik, Studio Gypsied, was born out of an intuitive connection to the cloth — an act of coming home.
Moderator
Lee Chor Lin, art historian and museum consultant, is curator of the exhibition Batik Kita: Dressing in Port Cities. She began her museum career in 1985 as a curator at the National Museum. She was senior curator at the Asian Civilisations Museum between 1993 and 2002, and director of the National Museum of Singapore between 2003 and 2013, during which she transformed the museum, influencing greatly the museum scene in Singapore. Lee was CEO of Arts House Limited (2013–16), which she set up for the National Arts Council, and which ran the Singapore International Festival of Arts. She was conferred Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by France in 2009 and Cavaliere, Ordine della Stella d’Italia, by Italy in 2012.
Image: Detail from a batik Belanda (Dutch batik) inspired by images seen in European fairy tales and magazines. "Slamet Pake" is urban slang of "Selamat Pakai", meaning "enjoy wearing". Kain panjang (detail). Central Java, Pekalongan, 1920s. Batik tulis. Cotton, synthetic dyes. ACM, T-0811.
Lee Chor Lin: Photo by Tara Sosrowardoyo
Organised in conjunction with the exhibition
