Dayu Menuhari

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I'm Dayu Menuhari. Menuhari means 'jasmine flower' in Bali. I'm a batik painting artist. My husband is also a featured batik artist — his name is Ida Bagus Lawa Bargawa.

I was born in 1966, the youngest of six children. I never met my father, as he passed away when I just a baby. My mother worked hard for us by selling groceries.

After graduating from high school, I worked in a garment factory. Then I moved to a batik gallery where I met my husband for the first time.

We married in 2002 and now have a daughter and a son. Having children pushes us to work harder and, of course, it brings more responsibility to plan for their future.

After marrying, I decided to help my husband with his batik paintings. He taught me the process and also the design principles. Eventually, I was able to create batik apparel and accessories, as it can take a long time to sell a painting. My accessories are more affordable and sell well, so this really helps our family finances.

I use traditional Balinese and Javanese motifs, which I often repeat in different color combinations. However each scarf, shawl or piece of apparel is painted by hand — either by me or by my husband.

We use cotton, silk and rayon. We play with soda ash, too, to make variations for our dyes. We don't use any printing or even stamping but all our work is hand-painted. It takes longer to create them, but all our designs are pure hand-made, which makes them unique compared to others.