Tian Taru – “a tree that grown between heaven and earth” – is a minimalist, Japanese-inspired indigo-dyeing studio that sits above the confluence of two rivers in dense, Balinese jungle rooted in perfect clay soil less than an hour from Ubud.
The bucolic sanctuary rests beneath the shady canopy of native trees and an indigo plantation that “grew from only one cutting”.
It’s a dream realised by Dutch-born, Spanish-raised Sebastian Mesdag who has been living on the Indonesian island for the best part of two decades. He discovered the wonder of indigo on a trip to Bali as a teenager with his uncle, Haans van Praag. (His great uncle, the 19th century artist Hendrick Willem, painted the Panorama Mesdag, Europe’s biggest circular painting, that stands 14m high and stretches 120m around a museum in The Hague.) In the late ‘90s, Sebastian moved to India where he worked with the Weavers Studio in Kolkata.
Though many most likely most associate it with colouring denim, indigo dying is one of the most ancient textile practices, used for more than 6,000 years across the continents of Africa, South America, and Asia owing to the Indigofera tinctoria (or ‘true indigo’) plant thriving in tropical zones. It was widely believed that the Ancient Egyptians were likely to have been the first to adopt the practice until archaeologists unearthed scraps of indigo-dyed cotton at a ceremonial mound at Huaca Prieta in northern Peru in 2007. The fabric is estimated to be 6,200 years old.
Back at Tian Taru, visitors to the studio may experience this ancient craft by way of workshops run by Sebastian and his small team including his Balinese wife, Ayu Purpa (the couple live on-site with their two young children), who have more than four decades’ worth of natural dye and textile design experience between them. The team guides guests through the plant-to-product process in a single day thanks to pre-prepared steps like seen in cooking shows.
Harvested leaves are soaked in water for days causing it to turn from various shades of green and blue before settling into a purple hue, ready for calcium hydroxide to be added forcing the indigo to the bottom to eventually form a yoghurt-like paste. The paste is later transferred to clay pots and mixed with hot water and more calcium hydroxide along with local palm sugar to activate the bacteria that encourages the indigo to “take on a life of its own”. Unless the concoction is kept at just the right pH level, it will perish, along with that vibrant colour. Like wine, though the process and recipes remain constant, no two batches are the same.
The one-day workshops, capped at 10 participants “outline the fundamentals of indigo dyeing”, from “growing and harvesting the plant to extracting the dye into a paste”. Visitors create their own vats and are guided through several dyeing techniques before making their own unique items. Lunch is provided, made using herbs and coconuts from the Tian Taru garden.
The studio often collaborates with local artists and makes its own textiles that are sold from its onsite shop and a couple of stores in nearby Ubud. The plantation was originally funded by natural-dye t-shirts made by Sebastian and his wife. The pair describe their practice as meditative, like therapy.
Sebastian believes indigo to be more than a colour, rather a life force “woven through history” that connects humanity to Mother Nature. There goes an old saying that people don’t just work with indigo, they become it. And visitors to Tian Taru experience this quite literally – as their blue-stained wrists will attest.
Discover more at tiantaru.com.
