Upcycled Cotton Alek Camp Shirt

Studio One Eighty Nine collaborates with artisans in Ghana, in Cape Coast, Accra and Tsatoe to preserve the ancient form of Batik. The cloth is first washed, soaked and beaten with a large mallet. We draw patterns with a pencil that is later carved into their shape in wood or in a sponge. They are then dipped in hot wax, which functions as a dye-resist.

The wax is applied using tools such as a sponge or wooden stamp. The artisan mixes dye just as a painter mixes paint to achieve the desired hue. After the cloth is dry, the resist is removed by boiling the cloth. No two pieces of textile will ever be exactly the same, each piece is a work of art, each piece is a painting. It takes 1-2 days to hand-batik fabric for an item such as a dress or a pair of pants. We employ anywhere from 1 - 20 artisans depending on the volume of textile production.