‘As a handmade, small-batch ceramic studio, Arta Derau loves to have a fun time doing trial and error. Personally, I love vibrant colors and the use of some impossible, rare, fabricated surfaces in ceramic. But one day, I wanted to add Batik pattern into Arta Derau’s collection. Even if strong cheerful colors seem far from the Batik’s roots… In Arta Derau’s Batik range, I tried to relate the stamping feels as well as create a surface that is very unique, that gets its own ceramic character, with potter’s glaze as a finishing. Potter’s glaze is a glaze that has deep roots in ceramic history. It adds fluid colors and effects to smooth the batik’s textures, brushing colors between one another, layer per layer, creating one-of-a-kind final piece. For me, the Parang pattern is the one I relate the most to since my parents are both from Jogjakarta, where it originates. Parang means hill and symbolizes sustainability. It is one of the oldest patterns in Indonesian textile. As one of our experiments at Arta Derau, we collect many types of clays or sands from different places…it made all sense when I met Amandine. She loves our experiments with wild clay (that’s how I call the ‘other’ clay from places beside stoneware, earthenware, porcelain, and bone china), and asked me to make the collection of coffee cup with the wild clay from our studio backyard- the rice paddy field! This wild clay from our backyard was mixed with our stoneware clay, creating a speckled surface with rusting blop! The high iron and other raw material debris on the ingredients of the clay would ‘pop’ inside the kiln. With white matte glaze and a potter’s glaze on the Batik Parang belt, the coffee cup is literally a piece from our studio in Tegallalang, Bali.’