Daydream believer
Kezia Karin
What do you do about a young woman who describes herself as crazy, a happy misfit, “an alien to her crowd” - or even sick? When she’s Kezia Karin, you smile and laugh along with her. The founder of Kezia Karin Studio is not crazy, of course. She’s merely searching for the right words to encapsulate how she feels about the adventurous work she does for her clients.
Whether it’s “Sanctuary of a Modern Louis Vuitton Woman”, a luxury apartment design for Louis Vuitton or “The Lucent Reverie”, an installation of Tom Dixon copper and gold pendant lights for the Moie showroom at Pacific Place; whether it’s a five-star city hotel in Surabaya, a fabulous resort-in-the-making in Ubud, or a beautiful office, house or apartment somewhere else in Indonesia, Asia or even America, Kezia approaches each of her glamorous projects with an overpowering sense of enthusiasm.
“Some people find me a bit hard to take,” she admits during an interview at Moie in November. “To finish all this on time,” she says, indicating the blurry, disorienting Tom Dixon installation within which we are sitting, “my team and I were working until the early hours of this morning.”
The Lucent Reverie installation is all about day dreaming. “I want people who come in here to feel like they’re floating,” Kezia says. “That’s why we have the copper and gold pendent lights, the black floor and the stainless steel walls. I love how light can transform a space to create another mood or ambience. This affects how humans behave.”
Kezia says her studio’s “multi-disciplinary approach” to projects “is driven by an endless curiosity. We gladly take risks to present a strong point of view, a concept to begin the design process, crafting a unique and individual narrative concept for each project – from the big picture to the smallest details. Design is a matter of problem-solving. Interior design is solving spatial problems.
“Those who know me, they know I am addicted to perfection. Some people call me demanding. OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) is in my blood. Some people call me sick! For me, it’s just the ingredients we need to get the result we want. Our team has been working and preparing this installation with the Moie Living team (which has been nothing less than terrific in doing their job) for months.
“Countless samples and discussions about how to get things done right… and believe me, it’s not always easy. Translating what was just an idea, a concept, into reality is, in fact, never easy. But you need to keep on pushing the boundaries, to stick to your vision and do whatever is needed.”
Moie’s Michelle Shang certainly appreciates Kezia’s gung-ho approach, saying: “Thank you Kezia Karin... so happy to work with someone with so much passion for perfection like you do. We surely have something in common when it comes to killing something... or someone.”
Laughs Kezia: “I have known Michelle and Nick Shang for 10 years or more. I said to them that it was about time we did a project together, something that went beyond the regular client-supplier relationship. That’s how this project with Tom Dixon came about. It took about a month to put the installation together, working with a couple of contractors.”
A month earlier, Deborah Iskandar’s ISA Art & Design asked Kezia to work with renowned furniture providers such as Laflo in providing a holistic curation of artworks that enlivened “The Sanctuary of a Modern Louis Vuitton Woman”. This was part of a “Louis Vuitton: Exotic Skins” event held during the first week of October. The week-long collaboration presented an extravagant show unit at the newly built Langham Residence in the SCBD.
“That was a tough assignment,” Kezia says. “We had 10 days to design a 500 sq m apartment, which was just white walls and completely empty when we began. We worked with 14 vendors.”
More than 70 Louis Vuitton Exotic leather bags were brought to Jakarta for a private preview and lavish display at the prestigious residence. The Exotic collection was displayed in each room of the apartment, along with Louis Vuitton lifestyle pieces among selected Objets Nomades and made-toorder hard-sided trunks. One space, “Her Secret Wardrobe”, featured the fall/winter 2019 ready-to-wear women collection by Nicolas Ghesquière.
Hailing from Yogyakarta, Kezia, who recently got married to an entrepreneur and musician from Singapore, moved to Surabaya in 2001 to study Interior Design at Petra Christian University. She stayed on in the city after graduation to pursue her career in design.
Beginning with a two-person outfit in 2008, her early projects were residential ones in Surabaya. Her effervescent personality and style, not to mention the high quality of her work, gradually attracted bigger projects, such as hotels. “We went from three stars to eventually five-star properties in Surabaya and Jakarta,” Kezia says.
Kezia Karin Studio is now recognised as one of the leading interior design houses in Surabaya, where the founder now employs 20 “creative forces”. She has designers, 3D artists, product designers, graphic designers and a technically gifted support team. “All staff on board are experienced and capable enough to produce seamless, innovative and well-considered high-end projects. Understanding the elements of good interior design means that our results should always answers the ever-changing needs of space. We’ve got each other’s back, and each individual contributes to produce their best work. That’s how we roll!”
She reflects: “I never intended it to become a big firm. It’s just that we had to keep adding people as more projects came along.” Kezia has extended her reach by opening an office in Jakarta. “Our projects span an entire frame of bespoke, high-end work from residential to office and hospitality, from Asia to America. We amplify design to a different level by pushing the envelope consistently with distinct, unique and cutting-edge work for each project.”
While partners and clients have praised Kezia’s work as “cutting edge” and “distinct”, the designer says that she still continues her “never-ending process of learning”. She sets out to be a “trendsetter in design” and strives to “deliver the unexpected… personalising the result to reshape people’s lives through design. Design should transcend trends and style; keep evolving to an unknown form, to an unexpected result.
“Quality is what counts, and that’s how we work. A great design concept is powerful and ground-breaking. It’s not just a series of ideas, but should also act as the connector between the various elements we are going to put in the designated space, which is developed to solve spatial problems. Bringing these key factors to life is how we seize the moment, to stand out above the rest.
“We stand by the idea that our design work will always evolve to encompass all aspects of design that transcend trends and styles. Our approach is distinguished by liveable, balanced and thoughtful designs. For those reasons, it’s very important for us to experiment with materials and collaborate with independent artists and artisans and other diversely talented people.
“Capturing the spirit of the client and the essence of space is the key to great design. Nothing defines an interior’s design more than its transcending personality from inside out. Kezia Karin Studio’s philosophy is rooted in the simple belief that our part is to translate and enhance what has been our client’s desire into the given space with the eventual work - shaping the environment into an experience.”
The conversation comes to an end with some reflections on the subject of inspiration. “Some people think it’s a case of sitting and waiting to see what will come into your mind,” Kezia says. “Not for me! My ideas come from the books I read, the pictures I look at, the movies I watch. Yes, I do social media like everyone else, but on its own that’s not enough. You have to go deeper. If your brain is empty nothing comes out. You have to feed your brain.” P