When batik finds its rhythm.
Kapten Batik’s ORKES collection brings music and textile craft into the same creative conversation.
A melody has rhythm, repetition and movement. So does a pattern. The March issue brings those two ideas together through ORKES, a Kapten Batik collection that treats music and textiles as creative partners. Its starting point is a simple question: what might the energy of a performance look like if it could be worn?
Sound meets cloth
The collection’s presentation made the connection tangible. Musicians from Agal Musik performed while batik artisans worked in a workshop setting. The result placed sound, gesture and making in the same room, allowing the audience to see a shared creative process instead of two separate demonstrations.
The original feature credits visual direction to Syazwan A., with textile design led by Syahirah and Sofeanna. Their work carries the idea of rhythm into the collection’s patterns and its wider presentation. The appeal lies in that interplay: a traditional craft can remain recognisable while finding new ways to express the mood and movement of contemporary life.
Tradition, with room to move
ORKES spans the brand’s Masterpiece, Maharaja and Nusantara series, alongside linen pieces and Kurung Kedah sets. Different cuts and sleeve lengths bring the designs into a range of everyday settings. The March story places this variety within Kapten Batik’s broader ambition to make batik feel at home beyond strictly formal occasions.
Founded by Farhan Omar and Ekram Faiz, the Kuala Lumpur brand approaches heritage as a practice to continue developing. ORKES gives that idea a particularly playful expression. Looking at the musicians and artisans together, the collection feels less like a finished pattern placed on a garment and more like a record of people exchanging ideas. Craft stays alive through use, experimentation and the pleasure of making something new. Here, the performance and the cloth each give the other another way to be seen.
ORKES: A Symphony in Batik
The Expat, March 2026, pages 54–55.
This digital preview is adapted from the original magazine feature. Text has been shortened and rewritten; photography and artwork come from the print edition.
