Moon Love Batik

1. MOON LOVE BATIK “MISSION”

Moon Love Batik is a social enterprise with the Mission to safeguard the intangible cultural heritage of the art of Hmong hand-drawn Batik and keep the traditional techniques, motifs and meaning alive as a living art for the future. Through cultivating the apprenticeship of this endangered artform, we are empowering women to pursue a worthy career while honouring the ancient traditions of their heritage, and also bringing awareness and appreciation to this under-represented culture and endangered art-form.

2. WHY WE STARTED “MOON LOVE BATIK”

The ancient art of traditional Hmong hand-drawn batik is in danger of disappearing and needs to be kept alive for future generations. If nothing is done about it now, it will disappear forever. We began witnessing the imminent extinction of this essential piece of Hmong culture when we discovered that the last master batik artist in Laos did not have any apprentices and she was reaching the age of 72. With this startling realization, we knew that we had to take action to save traditional Hmong batik for the future. On the first of August, 2022 we started the first steps in our mission to save this dying art and in April, 2023 we opened our studio, and began what has become “Moon Love Batik”

Moon Love Batik has the last master Hmong Batik artist, Zu Xiong, as well as our two apprentice batik artists as part of our team. Through our apprentice program and batik workshops, we have made the first step to ensuring that Hmong Batik can survive for future generations, however, it is not yet enough. 

Traditional Hmong Batik in Laos is on a fast path to extinction. Due to various reasons, hand drawn Hmong batik has been almost completely replaced by mechanical methods to create batik patterns. These products can be made quickly and sold inexpensively in the markets. As a result, the meaning, technique and understanding of the traditional motifs is rapidly being lost.

It is our goal to grow our apprentice program, expand our reach to educate and to bring awareness and value to traditional Hmong batik in order to foster a robust movement to sustain this living art-form into the future.

 Our batik artists are proud of their career path and feel valued. Through their continued learning, they are deepening their knowledge of the ancient motifs and symbols and have become a living source of knowledge to give to others. They can support themselves and plan for their future with their reliable income. This sense of empowerment is what we strive to continue to cultivate.

3. BENEFICIARY

Through our apprentice program, Hmong women directly benefit, as they can pursue a lucrative career as a master batik artist. Tourists visiting Laos of all ages find enjoyment and enrichment through our immersive batik workshop and indigo dye experience. Our educational program benefits international students seeking an intensive study in Hmong batik. Hmong people of all ages will benefit directly by seeing their culture represented in a beautiful and meaningful way, instilling pride and value in their own culture. People around the world will benefit by having Hmong batik alive for future generations of Hmong people. 

4. Our Pledge to Give Back

    We pledge to share 5% of our total profit to help the remote Hill-Tribe students by providing school supplies to them. There are many Hill Tribe parents in the countryside who can't afford their children's text-books, school-uniforms, and school supplies. Many of these families struggle to even provide a healthy meal for their family, and have no access to English books. Your support of Moon Love Batik will not only help save Hmong Batik, but can also help transform the lives of underprivileged children living in remote villages.