Pekalongan is one of the areas located in Central Java, about 2 hours away by land from Semarang City. Pekalongan is also famous for its city which is one of the centers of batik production, not only in Java, but in Indonesia and also in the world. As the symbol, “Pekalongan World’s City of Batik” or Pekalongan, the World Batik Producing City. Batik, which is synonymous with the city of Jogja or Solo, is actually one of the two batik centers in Indonesia, but Pekalongan has its own characteristics. Unlike the two cities above which have characteristic fabrics, which are mostly sogan brown, or black or white, Pekalongan prioritizes more modern patterns and has lots of contact with flora and fauna, also supported by its relatively bright and distinctive colors. coastal batik which makes it also attractive to many people. This time we will explore 5 villages in Pekalongan which are the centers of the batik industry there.
1. Wiradesa Village
Located approximately 30 minutes outside the city of Pekalongan, making Wiradesa one of the famous batik producing villages in Pekalongan. The layout is similar to a village in general, but each house has a brand name board attached to the name of each shop. We can also see first hand the whole process there.
2. International Batik Center (IBC)
IBC is one of the largest batik centers in Pekalongan. Its large place is like a supermarket, making IBC one of the tourist destinations, not only for local tourists but also for foreign tourists. We can find a lot of batik there, from printed batik, printed batik, and also hand-written batik.
3. Pesindon Village
This village, which is located within the city of Pekalongan, is classified as a small village when compared to the others. However, even though it is small and densely populated, almost 80% of all houses in Pesindon village are Small and Medium Enterprises (UKM) for the batik industry. In 2018, Kompas noted that there were at least 50 batik center houses only in Pesindon Village.
4. Setono Wholesale Market
Setono Wholesale Market (PGS) is one of the traditional markets in Pekalongan, which not only sells batik, but also lots of handicrafts and household necessities such as curtains, sheets and tablecloths. Also some Javanese traditional teas such as Tea Nutum Teh pendulum, and Sigma Tea.
5. Oey Soe Tjoen’s Batik Art
Oey Soe Tjoen is one of the famous batik artists in Indonesia who started his work from 1925. Currently his batik shop is managed by the 3rd and 4th generations. Located on Jalan Raya Kedungwuni, Oey Soe Tjoen batik has its own characteristic, namely the morning-evening cloth, where on one cloth there are two different motifs with a characteristic pastel color and some of his works are the typical peranakan encim cloth of Pekalongan. Other distinctive motifs of Oey Soe Tjoen are the Hokokai (mixed Indo-Japanese hybrid) and Hong bird (a mix of Indo-Chinese peranakan) motifs. Customers have to dig deeper here because the price offered starts from millions of rupiah per piece of cloth. And the most exclusive, everyone who wants to buy is on the waiting list, which is estimated for the next 3 months.
