Community Service in Cisaat Village, the Province of West Java: Developing Batik Business with Middle Eastern Design Inspiration

The present paper represents one community service done in Cisaat Village, Subang, West Java, focusing on developing and promoting its original batik designs through empowerment of the artisans. Activities were facilitated by lecturers coming from the Faculty of Economics, Universitas Negeri Jakarta. The team itself fully bore the production costs. Contrasting it with similar projects from other universities, which always included seminars or workshops on using natural dyes, this took another way altogether. The designs for batik were encouraged with Middle Eastern-inspired themes, rather than the traditional development of design based on a local cultural theme. The aim was to broaden the creative horizons of the artisans so that they could reach international markets while maintaining the essence of batik craftsmanship. The program tried to enhance economic potential in batik production by fostering innovation and cultural fusion in order to contribute to the sustainability of Cisaat as a tourism village. The new program gave them new creative perspectives as well as gave the artisans skill sets to cater to diversified market demands. The outcomes seem to hint at integrating traditional crafts into global design as a path to attaining community sustainable development and economic growth.