Batik art from Parrilla Workshop
Andrés Parrilla is a Uruguayan multi-talented artist. One of his specialties is Batik — a wax-resist dyeing technique rooted in centuries-old traditions.
He`s been creating art for over 20 years and lately we have asked him to develop a special collection, merging Latin American color sensibility with the architectural textures and lighting of Iberian (but not only) spaces. Each piece is hand-dyed on high-quality natural fabrics, with options for raw, partially framed, or fully framed presentation.
His works explore the interplay of organic form, light, and material — offering collectors and designers both visual depth and tactile presence.
Batik is both, an art and a craft
Traditionally it is a cloth made using a wax-resist dying technique.
To create a batik, selected areas of the cloth are blocked out by applying a hot wax over them. The cloth is then dyed. It is common to use a mixture of beeswax and paraffin wax, which is responsible for the characteristic cracking. The parts covered in wax resist the dye and remain the original colour.
This process of dying and waxing can be repeated to create many elaborated and colourful designs.
Thin wax lines are made with tjanting. A wooden handled tool with a tiny metal cup with a little spout out of which the wax seeps. after the last dying, the fabric is hung up to dry.
Than it is dipped in a solvent to dissolve the wax or ironed between paper towels or newspapers to absorb the wax and reveal the deep rich colours and the fine lines that give batik its character.
Taking care of a batik painting requires careful and thoughtful handling to preserve its colour, texture and integrity over time. Please follow these recommendations to guide you through the maintenance and preservation of its beauty.
Batik has a worldwide popularity, fabrics with the traditional batik patterns are found in Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, China, Azerbaijan, India, Sri Lanka, Egypt, Nigeria, Senegal and Singapore.
It is an ancient art form. Evidence of early examples of batik have been found in the far east, Middle East, Central Asia, and India, from over 2000 years ago.
Javanese (Indonesia) traditional batik especially from Yogyakarta and Surakarta has notable meanings rooted to the Javanese conceptualization of the Universe.
In Europe, the technique is described for the first time in the history of Java. Published in London in 1817 by Sir Thomas Stamphord Raffles, who had been a British governor for the island.
The art pieces come in different dimensions and formats, making them available in several sizes (from small to special big size). They can be customized according to specific needs, e.g. raw (unframed), partially framed (frame only, fabric visible edges), or fully framed under glass.
They are made with natural cotton/linen fabric; wax-resist dye and non-toxic pigments.
Each piece is hand-crafted, meaning a 100% unique with slight variation in color and texture, which is inherent and intentional.