Adire vs Batik
アディレ / バティック（ジャワ更紗）
Both sit in Textile Traditions, so the question is not what they belong to but how they behave. Both are read here as technique. They are reached for with some of the same intent, which is where they get confused.
Adire
The indigo resist cloth of Yoruba women: raffia ties and cassava-paste painting and stenciling reserve white patterns against deep indigo, weaving proverbs and signs into the contrast.
Batik
Javanese cloth resisted with wax and dyed over and over again. The line drawn by the canting builds a pattern system that also speaks of rank, region and rite.
| Adire | Batik | |
|---|---|---|
| Era | 19th century– | traditional–present |
| Family | Textile Traditions | Textile Traditions |
| Kind | Technique | Technique |
| Cues | Indigo-and-white resist patterns / Cassava-paste hand painting / Grid-divided imagery / A sign system holding proverbs | Crackle of the wax resist / The canting's line / Layered indigo and soga brown / A semantic pattern system |
| Best used for | Making white pattern carry narrative with indigo as the only color · Dividing a cloth into fields and weaving meaning from arrayed signs | Cloth and wallpaper needing a density only a drawn line produces · Formal and ceremonial textiles that respect what each pattern signifies |
| Type | Treat each sign as a unit of proverb, one to a field | Any lettering follows the pattern grid and never breaks the repeat |
| Composition | Grid the cloth and rotate fields so repetition never sits still | Divide the whole cloth into pattern units, change rank at the border |
| Material | Cassava paste laid by hand or stencil, dipped in indigo, then washed off | Wax resist, then layered indigo and brown, washed keeping the crackle |
| Caution | Repeating the motifs as pattern without knowing what they say breaks the system of proverbs and leaves only indigo decoration. | Using the patterns as decoration detached from meaning ignores who may wear them and on what occasion, which turns the cloth discourteous. |