
Two years ago, in 2020, historian and author Suze Zijlstra asked me if I knew someone to design her business card. She wanted something maybe with batik and referring to her research & upcoming book ‘De Voormoeders’. I sayed I would love to do it . When we had our first lockdown I started designing her card. A year later her card was printed and in September 2021 her book was published.
Since up till now Suze did not had many opportunities to hand out the card, I thought it would be nice to share the card, the inspiration & her book in a Batik Consultation video.
We talk in depth about one of Suze’s ancestors, Tan Kim Njo, and the batiks that she wore. And how those batiks inspired the business card I designed for Suze.
Now online on Youtube with Dutch & English subtitles:
Batik Consultation with Suze Zijlstra, historian and author of the book ‘De Voormoeders’ that was published last year. We talk in depth about one of Suze’s ancestors, Tan Kim Njo, and the batiks that she wore. And how those batiks inspired the business card I designed for Suze.





Books in the video:
‘De Voormoeders – Een verborgen Nederlands-Indische familiegeschiedenis’ by Suze Zijlstra (2021)
‘Batik Klasik – Classical batik’ by Drs. Hamzuri (1981)
‘Gedragen doeken – verhalen in batik’ by Liesje de Leeuw (2016)
‘Batik – Traditional textiles of Indonesia from the Rudolf Smend & Donald Harper Collections’ (2015)
Photo credits for photos/images used in the video:
Photos made available by Suze Zijlstra
Photos from the UB Leiden/KITLV collection:KITLV 4525 & KITLV 54280
Photo from Tropenmuseum TM-60033564
Photos of Batik, also styled with kebaya, special thank you to John Ang