Garuda Indonesia Colours Magazine January 2018 | Page 79

Explore | Interview
77
NANCY MARGRIED
TRADITION MEETS
TECHNOLOGY:
DIGITAL BATIK
Interview by Yani Lauwoie
Photography by Mark Parren Taylor
and eliminate the historical importance and
the tradition of batik itself,” said Nancy, who
is committed to empowering the community
through design and technology.
Nancy even had to face an angry fashion
designer who openly rejected jBatik. “We
analysed the incident. The possibility was
that we didn’t explain it well enough,” Nancy
said. The incident gave Nancy a lesson in
how to be clearer in representing jBatik.
“jBatik exists to enrich the design, not to
replace or damage the noble image of batik.
It is not to replace batik artists with
machinery either. The use of technology
is limited to the creation of new patterns
to support creativity and productivity,”
Nancy explained. Nancy believes technology
can help the batik industry move forward.
The challenges didn’t break Nancy. After
approximately 10 years, the creation speaks
for itself. At the moment, there are 3,000 users
of jBatik. They are batik artists, designers and
students from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore,
Australia, United States, England, the
Netherlands, France and Switzerland.
Users can create designs from two types
of software: jBatik Basic, which allows users
to modify the 1,000 basic patterns that are
inspired from all around Indonesia, or jBatik
Pro, which allows the users to create their
own patterns from scratch.
The progress of jBatik offsets the Batik Fractal
label. The clothing, accessories, souvenirs and
other creations under the label have been sold
abroad. “Our biggest consumers are from
Indonesia, followed by Malaysia, then Australia,
Canada and France. Our focus at the moment
is to expand our market in the Netherlands
and England. Countries in Africa are also my
next target. I see the similarity between batik
patterns and African textiles, so I believe
batik will be welcomed there,” Nancy said.
The challenges didn’t break Nancy. After approximately
10 years, the creation speaks for itself.
As well as its success in expanding the
market outside of Indonesia, Piksel Indonesia
has also received numerous awards for
its innovations: the Award of Excellence
UNESCO (2008), 100 Best Innovations,
awarded by the Indonesian President (2008),
the Asia Pacific ICT Award (2008) and the
Information Society Innovation Fund (ISIF)
Awards (2015), to name just a few.
Meanwhile, Nancy herself has won the Young
Caring Professional Award (2012) and Kartini
Next Generation Award, Women as Agents
of Change, Business Category (2014).
After collecting awards and selling products
abroad, what is next for Piksel Indonesia?
“We aim to have 5,000 users for jBatik two
years from now. Meanwhile, for Batik Fractal,
we hope to expand and strengthen our
market outside Indonesia, especially in
Asian countries,” said Nancy, who, on top
of everything else, has just finished her
Master of Science degree in Technology
Entrepreneurship at University College
London (UCL).
As a businesswoman who often travels
by plane, Nancy praised Garuda Indonesia.
“Garuda Indonesia is one of the best airlines
in the world, with excellent services.
I hope Garuda Indonesia can maintain the
Indonesian friendliness and continue to
improve the flight’s excellent services and
safety,” said Nancy, who is actively sharing
her business experiences at numerous
forums and events.