A DIY batik kit with all the magic and fun
I was always ambitious, even as a kid!” grins Arundika Weerasekera. It’s no surprise then that Arundika has found a way to align her academic training in architecture with a passion for batik-making, launching a new product this June to make batik a little more accessible for those with curiosity in their spirit- just like her.
Arundika Weerasekera and below, the innovative batik kit. Pix by Indika Handuwala and M.A. Pushpa Kumara
Arundika, 29, first became interested in batik as an undergraduate architecture student, when she began helping her mother with her batik clothing line. What started as brand management quickly became a passion for her; inspired by the craft and beauty of the batik-making process, Arundika and her mother started a new brand, “Hues of Batik Design House”, with Arundika as Creative Director. Their enterprise came together in their home garden with artisans turning Arundika’s designs–sketched on a digital device back then–into clothing.
Hues of Batik is launching a new product for the batik-curious this month. Called “Artful Batik Retreats: Experiential Batik Kit”, this is a product with big ambitions – to shift the perception of batik as one requiring extensive space and tools to one that can be enjoyed by anyone interested in the craft, anywhere.
Arundika has created the product in collaboration with Belgian visual artist Inge Stam. The kit is the result of a two-year research and development process, she explains, driven by a wish to see batik receiving the appreciation and high-end consumer demand that other heritage craft forms command internationally.
Arundika says she is following her gut, which has led her down a path of curiosity and innovation. In 2019, she attended “Resilient Skin Code”, a collaboration between the Architectural Association and Politecnico di Milano held in Milan, Italy. The two-week intensive aligned architecture with fashion design, and stirred a new interest in Arundika to find a way to bring together her two interests, which shared the same design principles while assuming different forms. Convinced that architecture was the driving force between her two passions, she went on to study for a Master of Architecture at the University of Manchester.
Returning to Sri Lanka in 2023 (she completed her final project remotely and graduated in 2024) Arundika was ready to transform her interest in batik to mastery of the craft. She joined The Batik Guild (a UK-based non-profit) and encouraged by the members, began learning batik-making herself. “Actually working on the batik-making process is very different to sketching a design,” she remembers. “It made me really appreciate the time, energy and resources that you need for batik.”
It also stirred her curiosity – tradition perpetuates the idea of space for batik, but she knew that you could do batik from almost anywhere. What if she could capture some of that experience in a form that enabled everyone to enjoy it?
Arundika’s interest in creating a DIY batik kit was further strengthened when she began conducting workshops for tourists in partnership with MOND, Hiriketiya in 2024. The feedback that she received coupled with the genuine delight participants took in the process inspired her to work faster to put the kit together.
The result is Artful Batik Retreats, an experiential self-guided batik kit for four. For the design, Arundika was inspired by the Fortnum & Mason hampers that she would admire in London during her postgrad years – “something portable that you can enjoy with friends and family, that is thoughtfully designed and beautiful in its own right”. She was also influenced by the feeling of wonder she felt watching Wonka, released in 2023, as the titular character opens up his chocolate making kit. “I watched it a few times because I loved that sense of magic and fun,” she says. “I wanted the people opening up the batik kit to feel the same way.”
To design the kit, Arundika partnered with Belgian visual storyteller Inge Stam. A3 prints by Inge, alongside sketchable art templates inspired by her photographs, provide the anchor for getting started. The kit includes premium cotton for batik-making, creative tools such as ink sketch pencils and dye powders, wax and dye equipment, and safety products. Arundika has prepared a detailed instruction manual, including sustainability notes for each product. She is partnering with hotels and resorts to make her product visible, and using social media to highlight what users can do with the kit.
The kit is positioned at a premium price point, with a luxury market segment in mind. Arundika’s wish is to see batik in highly visible spaces in different forms- perhaps the Oscars’ red carpet, or an Architectural Digest home tour video. She references Sri Lanka’s pavilion at Expo Japan in 1970, Ena De Silva’s arresting batik ceiling designed for the Bentota Beach Hotel (now Cinnamon Bentota Beach), and recent achievements by renowned Sri Lankan batik brands in fashion. To this end, she plans to pursue her craft at the intersection of batik and spatial architecture- bringing together her two passions to make a name for Hues of Batik beyond Sri Lankan shores.
To scale the brand, Arundika aims to explore how to integrate new technology in a way that she can be still loyal to the authentic batik making process without harming it – finding ways to simplify parts of the process without replacing it. The experiential kit is an early iteration of this goal, “to simplify the process so that anyone can grasp and enjoy it,” she says. “The same old craft, presented differently.”
To learn more about the kit, email huesofbatik@gmail.com
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