What Baobab Batik is known for
Baobab Batik is a Malkerns, Eswatini workshop founded in 1991 by Dutch artisan Els Hooft, who learned wax-resist batik in Benin and Tanzania before bringing it to Eswatini. More than 15 women artisans hand-dye cushion covers, aprons, children's leggings and homeware, sold online worldwide.
Els Hooft, a Dutch-born artisan, first encountered batik dyeing while traveling in Benin and Tanzania. She brought the technique to Eswatini and, in 1991, founded Baobab Batik in Malkerns as a workshop employing only women, on the belief that every woman deserves the chance to build a sustainable livelihood.
What began as an experiment with melted wax and dye grew into a working craft business. Batik's characteristic unpredictability, wax cracking as it cools and dye seeping through the cracks, produces mottled patterns that the workshop markets as evoking African landscapes and wildlife; the artisans work primarily in natural fibers, including cotton, rayon and linen.
Today more than 15 women artisans work at Baobab Batik, producing homewares such as cushion covers and kitchen aprons alongside a children's line of leggings, toys and soft goods, sold locally in Eswatini and exported worldwide through the workshop's online store.
How ORBIS reads this city
Best for — Batik homeware, cushions and children's textiles
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Where next
- Tribal Textiles — Zambia
- Gone Rural — Mbabane
- Kay Kraft — Bangladesh
Hand-curated for ORBIS · no paid placement