Garuda Indonesia Colours Magazine January 2018 | Page 78

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Explore | Interview
INTERVIEW
Businesses aren’t built
overnight; they take time and
effort to maintain and grow.
A persistent spirit throughout
the ups and downs is one of
many traits that a successful
businessperson must have,
and we can see this spirit in
Nancy Margried, CEO and
co-founder of Piksel Indonesia.
Nancy’s journey at Piksel Indonesia – an
umbrella company of Batik Fractal (fashion
products) and jBatik (software products) –
started when Nancy and two of her friends,
Muhamad Lukman and Yun Hariadi, drew
plants, birds and butterflies on a computer
using fractal mathematical formulas. “When
I saw the pictures, they resembled batik
patterns. Then we experimented with other
pictures, which resembled traditional batik
patterns, so we researched further,” Nancy said.
The discovery encouraged them to make their
own design software, jBatik. But combining
tradition, art and technology wasn’t an easy
task. “We questioned ourselves. How could we
make batik patterns out of software?” Nancy
says. So they consulted many experts from
various fields: mathematics, the arts and
tradition at the Bandung Institute of
Technology. They also spoke to batik artists
in Bandung, Cirebon and Pekalongan before
launching the software.
When Nancy started to introduce jBatik to the
public in 2007, there were pros and cons. “One
of the most challenging parts was that many
people, especially batik artists, disapproved
of our invention. They were worried that the
technology would lessen the artistic value