Style combination · Pairs well

Batik Pattern Tradition × Nieuwe Kunst

Its direct source: Dutch designers used wax-resist dyeing for covers in cotton, velvet and parchment; pair a constructed Nieuwe Kunst repeat with real batik colour layering, and credit the Javanese craft.

From the research on Nieuwe Kunst (Dutch Art Nouveau)

Mix them and make something Batik Pattern Tradition Nieuwe Kunst

A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from Nieuwe Kunst, their arrangement from Batik Pattern Tradition, the finish from Batik Pattern Tradition. Not a real work, and not an image of either style.

What each style brings

Each part of the design comes from the style with the stronger say in it, and each style gives at least two.

Batik Pattern Tradition Nieuwe Kunst (Dutch Art Nouveau)

Type from Nieuwe Kunst: Hand-lettering
Ornamented display
Colour from Batik Pattern Tradition: Earth & mineral
Analogous harmony
Form from Nieuwe Kunst: Abundant decoration
Floral & vegetal
Composition from Batik Pattern Tradition: All-over field
Horror vacui
Surface from Batik Pattern Tradition: Flat

The type

Open fonts standing in for each style’s own type, which is often hand-drawn or commercial.

Display · Nieuwe Kunst

Quiet

Federant; Nieuwe Kunst used Hand-drawn titles lettered into the decoration of covers and posters, such as Theo Nieuwenhuis's lettering, recognisable enough that Leiden University Libraries attribute a 1908 parchment binding to him on the strength of its typography and Klaas van Leeuwen, Letterboek voor den teekenaar en ambachtsman (1907), a lettering model book, geometric in concept, from the theosophical circle of De Bazel and Lauweriks

Text · Batik Pattern Tradition

The Javanese wax-resist textile tradition in which hot wax is drawn with a canting or stamped with a copper cap, then dyed in successive baths to build layered all-over patterns. Court batik of Yogyakarta and Surakarta keeps to indigo, soga brown and cream with diagonal parang and four-lobed kawung repeats; north-coast batik absorbs Chinese, Dutch and Arab motifs in brighter colour.

EB Garamond; Batik Pattern Tradition used Arabic calligraphy of batik besurek (Bengkulu) and Cirebon and Signed Latin script of batik Belanda workshops

The colours

The ground and leading colours come from Batik Pattern Tradition, with a counter-accent from Nieuwe Kunst. The ink reads on the ground at 4.5:1 or more.

Batik Pattern Tradition Nieuwe Kunst (Dutch Art Nouveau)

#2a1c14 ground · 36%
#ecdcbc ink · 14%
#a6322b accent · 18%
#c49a3a accent · 14%
#2c6aa0 accent · 10%
#6e4426 accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #2a1c14;
  --ink: #ecdcbc;
  --accent-1: #a6322b;
  --accent-2: #c49a3a;
  --accent-3: #2c6aa0;
  --accent-4: #6e4426;
  --font-display: "Federant", sans-serif;
  --font-text: "EB Garamond", serif;
}

Use it with care

Batik Pattern Tradition: Batik is inscribed by UNESCO as Indonesian intangible cultural heritage (2009), and some court motifs such as parang rusak were historically reserved for royalty and carry philosophical meanings. Learn a motif's meaning before using it, credit the region and makers, and do not market printed batik-look fabric as hand-drawn or stamped batik.

Nieuwe Kunst (Dutch Art Nouveau): Nieuwe Kunst took batik and the look of wayang shadow puppets from Java under Dutch colonial rule, largely without naming Javanese makers; when you borrow its batik surfaces or puppet-like figures, credit batik as an Indonesian craft (UNESCO-listed since 2009) whose motifs can carry meaning, and do not present printed batik-look as wax-resist work.