Nine years of Imarazak - The Batik House

 

The text message from my friend, who is familiar with the stuff that interests me, read like this:

Rafidah Ahmad, better known as Ima, with her
batik products at Imarazak - The Batik House,
located within Kompleks Kraf Johor

“I wanted to share with you about my batik shirts. Lately, I’ve opted to wear more Batik Johor and it’s all from this shop in Kompleks Kraf Johor called, Imarazak.

They use Johor motifs like pepper, gambier and pineapple, and they also offer batik printing classes at their shop.”

 

It is no secret that I have an inherent interest in Johor culture and heritage, so key words like batik along with, Johor motifs of pepper, gambier and pineapple, certainly appealed to me.

 

I did not hesitate to get the contact details and asked him for a favour to make an e-introduction before I arranged our meet-up at their shop.

 

I am familiar with Kompleks Kraf Johor, located in Larkin off Jalan Datin Halimah, and when I arrived at the carpark, Madam Ima herself was waiting there to welcome me in.

 

A golden digit for Nine, floating
against the product display, that
marks the Ninth Anniversary
of Imarazak this year

She explained that their brand name, Imarazak, was coined from her name in one part with the other part made up of her husband’s name, Razak.

 

My eyes zeroed in on a golden balloon in the shape of the digit nine, floating against the rack of batik shirts on display, and Ima was quick to share that they were commemorating their Ninth Anniversary since the brand was registered in 2017.

 

Madam Ima clarified that her name is Rafidah Ahmad while Ima, was her home name when she was growing up in Kampung Tanjung Adang, Gelang Patah.

 

This struck a familiar chord with me because my dad was posted to work at the Government health dispensary in Gelang Patah in the 1960s and he had good friends in Kampung Pok, the village that Ima told me, was next to Kampung Tanjung Adang.

 

As we chatted about her journey to Imarazak, I learnt that Ima has a background in Engineering, more specifically, in the specialised field of High Radio Frequency Nano Technology.

 

She had a successful career with multinational companies in Shah Alam, working in their Research & Development team with the opportunity to develop her skills through further research studies abroad.

 

At that stage in her life, she was a mother to five children with ages that ranged from seven years to five months old. With her mother advanced in age and her husband ill, she had to make a decision to choose between advancing her career or being with her family.

 

Ima then reached the decision to uproot herself from Shah Alam, accepted a job opportunity in Iskandar Puteri and moved closer to her mother in Johor.

 

As the Radio Frequency Designer of a special device, her work (again!) required her to be in the UK for three years with six months in Japan. Once again, she was faced with the tough decision of choosing between career and family.

 

To Ima, her family always comes first.

 

Armed with professional skills from her engineering career, she forged ahead as a trader in batik and curated an exclusive collection of all types of high-quality, beautiful batik from various Malaysian states, available to discerning customers from her boutique and art gallery, opened in Iskandar Puteri.

 

Ima made good use of the six years as a trader in batik to study her target market and successfully met their tastes for premium quality fabrics that reflect traditional heritage and handled the business with a modern approach.

 

Ima with her son, Faris, as he was block printing
a piece of fabric at the workshop, adjacent
to their shop in Kompleks Kraf Johor

From trading in batik, Ima turned to learning more about the art of creating batik. At a special workshop organised by Kraftangan Malaysia, a batik tutor from Terengganu was invited to conduct training in the art of canting and block printing.

 

Ima gave much thought into choosing to pursue the art of creating batik using the canting method or the block printing method and after much deliberation, she decided on acquiring the skills in block printing.

 

With the Imarazak brand established, her batik business relocated to the current premises in Kompleks Kraf Johor where there was space to create her own designs using the block printing method.

 

Then under a Johor Corporation branding exercise in 2017, she registered IMARAZAK TRADITIONAL & MODERN as ‘The Batik House’ with a tagline, Batik Comes Alive.

 

Faris had acquired the skills in
block printing, a tedious but
satisfying task, all done by hand

When the global pandemic reached our shores in 2020, Ima had no alternative but to work-from-home. In such a challenging situation, she applied her engineering skills to modify equipment and techniques to continue creating batik using the block printing method at home, to meet with her customers’ requests.

 

Her social-media savvy sons, Danial and Faris, supported her home-based business by creating an online presence on various platforms and she was able to keep her brand alive throughout the lockdown period by creating custom-designed fabrics.

 

I observed that Ima was proud of how they were able to commit to deliver on time, her exclusive products that were made according to the customers’ choice in fabric, colours and designs.

 

She cited the example of a Malay wedding where the customer required a number of two-meter batik printed fabrics for the ladies’ traditional costumes. And when she was able to meet the customers’ requirement, they added to their order, five-meter fabrics for the men’s costumes.

 

Ima showing off her own design
of the Johor motif of pepper and
gambier made using the block
printing method, tailored
into a shirt

It was clear that her experience garnered from the years as a Research & Development engineer-turned-trader in batik, a useful time of training and learning for her own advancement in the world of creating meaningful batik, a unique form of wearable art with a story.

 

Ima then showed me a framed piece of batik she created that featured the Johor motifs of pepper and gambier with fronds of the piai fern, and told me about the Batik Lestari Competition in 2024, where she was shortlisted among the top 20 from some 80 participants.

 

The shortlisted participants were invited to present a pitch and share their response to the question, “What do you know about sustainability?”

 

By then, her sons had joined the business where Faris was applying his skills in block printing fabrics while Danial continues to support in sales and on social-media.

 

In her presentation, Ima was able to share about the heritage element of the motifs used in the design of her batik fabric: Pepper and gambier that represent the lucrative spice trade and the first economy crops that put Johor on the world map as the world’s largest producer of gambier in the 1800s, and piai leaves, a coastal fern that grows abundantly in mangrove forests, essential plants that protect the delicate coastal eco-system.

 

This framed piece of batik
features Johor motifs of pepper,
gambier and fronds of piai fern

Ima discussed the route to growth and sustainability by having a succession plan where her sons were hands-on involved in the business, and having seen the process and the work involved in producing quality fabrics, they can better appreciate the final products.

 

She was also unselfish about her skills and knowledge, ready to share her journey with the younger generations by collaborating with colleges and universities, open to accepting practical trainees and interns who wish to learn batik-making techniques.

 

As Ima shared, I could feel her passion for creating batik designs that aimed to elevate Malaysian batik by showcasing the Johor identity to the world through the production and marketing of quality products with exclusive and contemporary designs.

 

While I was there, a walk-in customer came to look at the smart shirts and Danial helped to pick out one that met with his taste and size.

 

Then one-by-one, Ima showed me her designs that were tailored from cotton and satin cotton fabrics, created in trendy colours like teal and olive, or according to the customer’s requirement or corporate colours.

 

When Ima showed me a batik design used on a cold bag she that designed for Tea Garden, I instantly recognised it from a Ramadan promotional event at Tea Garden in 2024. As Ima pointed to her signature on the design that featured Bunga Raya (Red hibiscus) and Bunga Telang (Blue pea flowers), it was good to know that she was, in fact, the designer.

 

Among Imarazak’s recent customers were brands like UDA Holdings, Tea Garden, Desaru Coast, the Johor Heritage Foundation and Gleneagles Hospital, and collaborators like Universiti Teknologi MARA, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and Southern University College.

 

The plaque Ima received from 
Yayasan Raja Zarith Sofiah,
Negeri Johor

Ima told me she was pleasantly surprised when a team from Yayasan Raja Zarith Sofiah, Negeri Johor or the Raja Zarith Sofiah Foundation, Johor, visited Imarazak – The Batik House, to learn more about Ima and her use of Johor motifs in her designs.

 

She was more than pleased when they presented her with a plaque as a sign of approval from Yayasan Raja Zarith Sofiah, Negeri Johor for what she was doing to preserve and promote the Johor identity through her useful and wearable art work.

 

No, she has no plans to move into a mall where there were more footfalls. At Kompleks Kraf Johor, Imarazak welcomes visitors and groups to watch how block printing was done and take part in batik painting using a paintbrush or the canting.

 

Congratulations on your Ninth Anniversary and wishing Imarazak greater heights of success as more customers – many of them repeat customers – appreciate the quality in their products and services that meet with the customers’ tastes and requirements.

 

Imarazak – The Batik House, is at Wakaf No. 1, Craft Valley, Kompleks Kraf Johor, Jalan Cendersari, off Jalan Datin Halimah, 80350 Johor Bahru, Johor. Open from Monday to Sunday from 10am to 5pm. For enquiries, Tel: +6019 2779275.

 

For info and updates, visit Imarazakbatik official pages on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok as well as YouTube to view videos.

A version of this feature was first published in The Iskandarian, the official newspapers of Iskandar Malaysia, on 12 October 2026.

Feed the birds!

Sa'at Sarjan with the birdhouse
that he would not sell

If you have forgotten the sweet sounds of birdsongs, that’s probably because it’s drowned out by the revs of noisy motorcycles and the shrill scream of sirens in our urban jungle.  At daybreak when city sounds are at its lowest, try to tune in to the mynah’s sharp tweets, the sparrow and blackbirds’ chirps and the throaty warble of clumsy cuckoos.  If you let artificial noises fade into the background, it’s all there if you listen hard enough.

For years I’ve had a bird feeder in the garden.  Each morning, scraps of bread and fruit or leftover rice is left soaking in water on the feeder and in a little while, birds will flock around, pecking and picking up morsels.  With the feeder strategically placed where I can watch them from my breakfast table, the sight and sounds of happily feeding wild birds is a breathtaking boost to kick-start my day. 

This feeder served me well for many years, being repaired and shored up several times but my search for a suitable replacement was in vain.  In June while I was in the UK, I saw many choices and I wanted to bring one home but realized that the wood may not last in our tropical weather. 

In a recent trip to Kluang, my search finally ended when a friend took me to meet Sa’at Sarjan and to see his range of beautiful birdhouses.

Ostentatious 3-storey birdhouse!

Walking through the garden centre, I was bowled over by the range of birdhouses displayed in a landscaped garden.  There were simple hanging open trays and birdhouses in a variety of heights including elaborate ones with signboards and an ostentatious one that stood 3-storeys tall.  Looking closely at the quaint little wooden houses with perches and carved windows and doors, I was in a veritable real estate paradise for the birds.

The unassuming Sa’at watched me admire his birdhouses and while I was thrilled by the available choices, he made my day when he suggested that I could even have mine, custom-made.  Without hesitation, I described what I wanted and he started to sketch it out on a sheet of paper.  He understood that in addition to the single trunk with a birdhouse on top, I needed a “cabang” or an additional ‘branch’ for my feeder tray.

Ten days passed as I waited in eager anticipation for a call from Sa’at to tell me that my birdhouse is ready.  And when that long-awaited call came, threatening dark clouds and a subsequent rainstorm did not deter me from going to collect my brand new birdhouse.  It took just one look at my birdhouse and I was smitten. 

Wild birds feeding at my birdhouse!

With its roof made of “merbau” or Malacca teak, a type of valuable hardwood, the birdhouse has windows and doors carved out of its walls and a ridged roof built with a little chimney.  Varnished to protect against the elements, it has perches all round for the birds to rest and the extra ‘branch’ to support a ceramic plate provided for the all-important feeder.  Then Sa’at gave me instructions on how to anchor the birdhouse to the ground but I was very pleasantly surprised because he also told me that when I got tired of it after a few years, I could simply trade it in for a newer model.

Curious about his penchant for birdhouses, I asked him and Sa’at told me that his father, a carpenter and the first village headman of Kampong Palembang Lama in Kluang, was his inspiration.  He built their own home in the kampong and as Sa’at observed his father helping others build their houses, he became interested in woodwork and got involved with this trade. 

Birdhouse with welcome sign

Over the years Sa’at tried his hand in different businesses ranging from timber trading to furniture-making and 8 years ago, he started doing woodwork for landscaping, mostly building pergolas, gazebos and flower-pot stands.

His recent projects include building roofs extensions as well as pergolas and furniture for factories, schools and private homes.  Sa’at loves working with wood, which he believes is a “living product” even though it was already cut into logs or planks.  Nothing goes to waste as he tries to put every spare or odd piece to good use and this resulted in the creation of birdhouses.

Of his three workers in the workshop, Mazlan Mohd Noor shares his passion in creating birdhouses and its clear how they are built with a keen eye for detail.  The samples on display shows how every scrap piece of wood is put to good use to build beautiful birdhouses that will certainly be a complement to any garden.  But I’m probably biased as I admire the brand new birdhouse in my garden and enjoy the sheer pleasure of watching wild birds flock around, squabble with each other, perch for a while and peck a few juicy mouthfuls before flying away.

Trading as Trussan Jaya Enterprise, Sa’at’s garden centre with display of birdhouses and landscaping items is located at No. 495-1, Jalan Bunga Raya, Kampung Melayu in Kluang.  For enquiries, Tel: 013 – 744 2776.

A version of this article was published in The New Straits Times, Johor Streets in September 2009