Nusantara Batik Week expected to see sales of Rp6 billion

The ongoing Nusantara Batik Week is expected to record sales of Rp6 billion, a local official said.

The target increased from Rp4.5 billion last year, said Supriono, head of the Pekalongan industry, trade and cooperatives and SMEs office, speaking on Tuesday.

The Eighth Nusantara Batik Week, held Oct. 4-9, offers various kinds of batik and traditional culinary from Pekalongan and other regions.

The batik expo is organized to celebrate National Batik Day, which falls on Oct. 2.

Pekalongan is dubbed as “the city of batik” because it is one of the countrys centers of batik production.

Indonesias batik, along with the Tango of Argentina and Uruguay, the traditional Ainu dance of Japan, and Frances aubusson tapestries, were among the 76 representatives included in UNESCOs Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity published ,on September 30, 2009.

“The techniques, symbolism, and culture surrounding hand-dyed cotton and silk garments, known as Indonesian batik, permeate the lives of Indonesians from beginning to end. Infants are carried in batik slings decorated with symbols designed to bring the child luck, and the dead are shrouded in funerary batik,” is how Indonesian batik has been described by UNESCO.