Multi-artist Nini Marini believes in championing love for art and traditional Malaysian textiles. — Photos: YAP CHEE H0NG/The Star
Nini Marini Ramlan’s studio is just as you would imagine an artist’s creative space to look like – filled with brightly-coloured works in various mediums, with painting tools taking up corner spaces and paint splatters forming a masterpiece of their own on the black and white checkered floor tiles.
The multi-artist herself is a commanding presence, sashaying around the space in a colourful kaftan from her Malaysiana collection, enthusiastically explaining the ideas behind her newest weavings and paintings, and showing us the artworks produced by her five-year-old students.
“My art is always about being accessible to people,” says Nini. “I want people to not be intimidated by art. I want people to just see my work and say, ‘Oh, wow, your painting, it’s nice, I don’t know what it is, but I really like it’.”
“I don’t want you to feel so intimidated that you wouldn’t want to ask me about it,” she adds.
Playing multiple roles as an artist, teacher and advocate for traditional Malaysian textiles, Nini also had an illustrious two-decade career in production in Media Prima, which she left in 2019 to pursue art full-time.
From sports production to branding and marketing, and going on to heading the content department, she rose the ranks to becoming the general manager for Innovation and Distribution.
In her conversations with makers of Malaysian batik in the East Coast, Nini always asks why they use vibrant colours and the answer is simple “Sebab dia ceria” (because they are cheerful).
It was in the final few years of her tenure with the company when her two loves – corporate and creative – began to merge as brands would approach her to collaborate with them on projects in her capacity as an artist.
“2019 happened, Covid-19 happened, and I started my journey of rebuilding. When I left TV, I thought, ‘wow, my identity has changed and I’ve lost it for a bit. I don’t even know what it is’. Because everybody knew me as Marini Ramlan, Innovation GM and a lot of people didn’t understand my move,” says Nini.
“I’ve always been multi-dimensional, multi-faceted. Even in my art practice there was never one medium. In this space, I paint, I do textiles. I also work in an NGO, Citra, founded by my mother (Fatimah Ismail), ” she adds.
Nini’s art extends to her Malaysiana collection, made up of art-inspired gifts, accessories and clothing designed with her most vibrant creations, inspired by flora found in Malaysia and Asia.
Advocating for Malaysian textiles
Nini is the president of the Malaysian Traditional Textile Lovers Association (Citra), an NGO set up to instill an appreciation for and pride in local textiles, mainly batik, tenun and songket.
“We educate, we hold workshops, we gather. We have an active chat group to talk about the difference in traditional textiles in Malaysia. There are three main categories people don’t know about – batik, tenun and songket. We have workshops to show people how to sew tulang belut or telepuk, both of which are all traditional textile methods that are fast dying.”
Among their efforts is advocating for Malaysian batik, from raising awareness on what it is to how to create and use local batik.
“People need to know Malaysian style, which is free, abstract, the colours are crazy but we need to appreciate that, because that’s Malaysian batik, we’re good at freestyle,” says Nini. “Yes, we learned from the Indonesians, there’s no doubt. Indonesia started the traditional methods, we learned from the Indonesians and we Malaysians bring a bit of our pizzazz into it.”
In her conversations with makers of Malaysian batik in the East Coast, Nini always asks why they use vibrant colours and the answer is simple “Sebab dia ceria” (because they are cheerful).
“They love bright colours because it makes them happy. The minute I realised that about Terengganu and Kelantanese batik, I was just instantly more appreciative of where it came from.”
The organisation aims at guiding makers to eventually getting their designs out there, through introducing and exposing them to designers to see how their work can progress differently.
Nini is the president of the Malaysian Traditional Textile Lovers Association (Citra), an NGO set up to instill an appreciation for and pride in local textiles, mainly batik, tenun and songket.
Another goal is to preserve the traditional batik block – wooden moulds used to print batik – as there are less than 10 makers left in Malaysia.
“There’s only about a handful of makers in Malaysia now and they’re ageing. And the older generation is getting older and they’re trying to pass it down, but it’s not fast enough. Younger people are not willing to pick it up because life as a textile creator is hard,” says Nini.
From getting people to commit to the volunteer work and getting the word out there about the organisation, making themselves more noticeable is one of Nini’s goals.
“And also to show people that we are not here to encroach on other people’s associations or agencies. We want to promote your work. If you have a textiles festival, let us promote it for you. Or you know, let us bring awareness because we have a network of about 200-odd members. We have a mixture of designers, makers, agencies, governing bodies and individuals whom I just call textile lovers.”
Nurturing love for art
Teaching has always come naturally to Nini, who currently gives lessons to children as she believes people should be nurtured to become creative at a young age.
“I like teaching and I’m kind of slowly moving myself towards creative education because I believe so much in it. I believe that people should be encouraged to be creative. And kids also need to be nurtured at a very early age.
“I teach a process art, process is about the idea of understanding your development process rather than the end product. We are a society that values end, rather than process, yes, and I think we need to be able to value the process more, because that’s when creativity develops,” says Nini.
Running an NGO, painting and teaching while also holding workshops for other artists may sound like Nini has a lot on her plate, but she is taking it in stride.
“You’re going to ask me, how do I make money with this?” she says. “I have several ways of making money for myself. Painting is a core. I teach and I train, I train people in creative thinking with art, and I’ve done that a lot with a lot of companies.
“My mother always said you must have ‘bread and butter’ money for your art. Make the easy art so that you can make the hard art. A lot of artists don’t want to go there because they think you’re selling out and always, they tell me I’m a commercial artist and I say yes I’m a commercial artist, I think art should be sold. Because if that is going to be my career, it should be able to sell it,” she says.
Concluding that she is not here to make social commentary about art, Nini’s goal is to build her creative career.
“I’m here to make people happy with my art, you know?”
