Written by Edwin Charmain – Pusaka Jewellery
Before working with metal, there was thread.
Not as a concept, but as part of everyday life. In Pekalongan, a city shaped by batik and textile production, pattern is not something applied. It is constructed through repetition, line, and structure.
These principles are learned early, often without instruction. They are observed in process: in the drawing of wax, the layering of dye, and the building of a pattern across cloth. Over time, they become a way of seeing.
Pattern as Structure
[Left: Close-up of batik tulis process, Right: Work In Progress of Pusaka Pistia filigree petal from PUSAKA Origin Collection, both showing repetition and line.] Pusaka Archive, Pekalongan, 2017.
In batik, pattern is not decoration. It defines the surface and gives it structure.
Each line carries intention. Each repetition builds continuity. What appears intricate is the result of accumulated decisions — made gradually, across time.
This understanding remains central in my work today.
In filigree jewellery, silver wire is drawn, shaped, and placed by hand in much the same way. Form is not imposed, but constructed — built through line, tension, and placement.
The material changes, but the logic remains.
Translation, Not Imitation
[Amalgamation between Phlox Filigree ring, its inspiration and making process, showing relationship without direct replication] Pusaka Archive, London,2024-2025.
The relationship between batik and filigree is not literal.
There is no direct replication of the pattern. Instead, what is carried forward is a way of working — an understanding of how form emerges through process.
In this sense, heritage is not preserved by copying, but by translation.
It moves from textile to metal, from surface to structure, from one material language to another.
The Role of The Hand
[Hands working: applying batik with a canting tool (Right), and shaping fine silver wire at the bench (Right).] Pusaka Archive, Pekalongan - Yogyakarta, 2019.
Both batik and filigree rely on the hand.
In batik, the canting tool guides hot wax across cloth. In filigree, fine wires are shaped and positioned with small tools, then fixed through heat.
In both cases, the outcome is not fully predetermined.
There is adjustment, variation, and response at every stage. The hand does not simply execute — it interprets.
This is where the work becomes specific to the maker.
Continuity In Contemporary Form
[Kaphi Brooch Finishing, Private Commission.] Pusaka Archive, Yogyakarta, 2019.
To work with heritage is not to return to the past.
It is to carry forward a way of thinking, and to allow it to take form in the present.
At PUSAKA, jewellery is not designed as a reference to tradition, but shaped through it.
Each piece is made within this continuity — where material, process, and knowledge remain connected, even as the form evolves.
What Is Carried Forward
[Van Zuylen Filigree Statement bracelet resting on Terang Bulan batik cloth, connecting the object back to its origin.] Pusaka Archive, London, 2022 - 2023.
What is inherited is not a motif, but a method.
A way of building through repetition.
A sensitivity to line and structure.
An understanding that form emerges gradually, through attention and time.
These principles do not belong to a single material.
They move, adapt, and continue.
From batik to silver, the work remains.
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