Reconsuming Tradition
What is the true value of traditional craft in contemporary design? Beyond the cultural necessity of heritage preservation, could craft and tradition provide answers to present and future needs? Lim Masulin, founder of Jakarta-based weaving company BYO Living, is invested in such an idea.
Since its founding in 2008, BYO Living has been fabricating woven components for architecture and interior use, while also being equally interested in the research and development of the Indonesian weaving tradition. Founder Lim Masulin, who graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a degree in economics, believes that the craft of weaving, so central to the history of civilisation, will be a linchpin for a future balanced on how we tackle issues such as climate change.
Lim shares, “We created the brand BYO Living [inspired by the term ‘bio’] because we felt the urgent need to focus on a sustainable approach. Thirty or forty years ago it was still very common to live in a house with weaving. Traditional houses are like that because the weaving helps protect from the sun and rain, and certain patterns keep mosquitoes out. You get very good privacy. You get ventilation. What we are questioning is why we, who live in Asia, are not protecting our way of living – which is very sustainable from an energy point of view.”
Today, BYO Living partners with design offices around the world (including Andra Matin, Kengo Kuma and Associates and OMA) to explore the application of weaving in modern built environments. In exhibitions such as Elevation (produced in collaboration with andramatin studio for the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale) it also delivers pertinent messages about the utility and beauty of the craft and heritage.
BYO Living operates three workshops in Indonesia, with its largest in North Jakarta where its research and development unit is housed. A team of eight architects and designers work closely with the in-house weavers. Lim shares, “We employ and bring our master weavers close to Jakarta, rather than have them work in the villages, because it allows architects and weavers to come together and experiment.”
The team recently developed a collection of curved screens for a project by Kengo Kuma in Bali. “The development process was quite long. It took us about six months to almost a year,” says Lim. Such development work is crucial to the efforts of BYO Living, which has woven diverse materials including paper, leather, fabric, rattan, wood and upcycled plastic.
But the company also always tested out unusual techniques. For the residential development Vida Bekasi (master planned by Andra Matin) for instance, BYO Living created an entrance structure with a woven panel made of polyethylene (replacing the more common aluminium composite). The material’s merits are in lightness and lower cost. It is expected to last fifteen to twenty five years.
Lim shares, “We developed the plastic using the same kind of weather-proof additive that you have in plastic car bumpers. This additive has been used in the car manufacturing for decades; we are just bringing it to architecture.”
In the tropics, where air conditioning is still the greatest energy guzzler, woven screens can be a productive component of an overall design solution. Beyond the provision of ventilation and shading – as is the case for a data centre in Surabaya, whose woven building skin was created from extruded upcycled plastic – woven elements can be used to improve the efficiency of air conditioning.
In the Toyota Headquarters in Jakarta (architecture by Nikken Sekkei; interior design by Budi Lim), BYO Living created beautiful undulating ceiling ventilation panels to facilitate the efficient and even distribution of air conditioning for the 7,000-square-metre interior. “People are focused on the aesthetics of the design but this weaving pattern is very utilitarian,” says Lim. “The openings of the weaving pattern were [strictly] controlled. It required meticulous calculation.” The project was completed in collaboration with engineering consultants Arup and Meinhardt.
Lim believes that creative exploration and collaboration are the way forward for the company, if not for the rest of us. He explains, “We are not focused on products, we are not focused on design, we are focused on processes. It is just like coffee; we are not selling the beans, we are not selling the coffee, but how you make it – the process."
This, suggests Lim, is one of the missing links in today's society. He says, "You start to forget that process is very precious. But this is where humanity lies.”