Design Anthology - Asia Pacific Edition
The New Vernacular
Despite the increased recognition it ’s enjoying internationally, Indonesia’s creative scene is continuing to go through growing pains. The few who rise to the top face challenges of proving the industry’s worth not only globally but locally. Resilience and resourcefulness are have become bywords.
For emerging designers like Alvin Tjitrowirjo, Eva Natasa, Sashia Rosari and Abie Abdillah, the experience of founding their own respective practices has been remarkably similar. To transition from design to factory production, where innovative principles and bespoke designs become secondary to marketability, requires great persistence. Additionally, materials are not easy to acquire at competitive prices — they are mostly bought by big factories in bulk, leaving startups little chance to purchase their desired materials at competitive prices.
‘If you look at the number of universities with product design faculties in Indonesia versus the number of established product designers working in the market, you begin to understand the discrepancy,’ observes Tjitrowirjo, founder and creative director of AlvinT Studio. ‘This signals a big problem.’ Currently there are around 30 product design faculties, but fewer than ten active product designers with their own studios.
But facing up to these challenges has also defined these emerging designers’ practices in many ways, paving the way for remarkable products that are firmly and deliberately rooted in a local context. ‘I am Indonesian and I love Indonesia,’ says Natasa, industrial designer and founder of the furniture brand Eva Natasa. ‘We only use local wood and all of our craftsmen are Indonesian.’
Natasa’s brand began with her research into locally available materials that she wished to use to create comfortable and ergonomic furniture. Her design process is grounded in quality over quantity, with much of her time focused on prototyping her products; she designed her first collection over almost two years, resulting in a meticulously crafted, user-centric range of furniture born from detailed research. Local teak is her material of choice for its sustainable qualities and naturally produced oil that protects against termites.
Like Natasa, Rosari’s keen interest in ergonomic design formed her vision of furniture design as part of a holistic spatial experience. A furniture designer who has worked with the likes of PTT Family, the group behind Bali’s Potato Head Beach Club and Katamama Hotel, Natasa draws inspiration from architecture, landscape, fashion and local materials, and believes in achieving holistic design through a collaborative process. Her cafe HONU Poké & Matcha Bar, designed in collaboration with Rafael Miranti Architects, is a testament to her process, utilising natural materials and detailing to maximise function.
Abdillah, Studiohiji’s principal designer, bases his furniture design process on his exploration of traditional Indonesian crafts such as rattan weaving, reinterpreted through modern industrial techniques. Having spent close to two years on the initial prototypes of some of his products, Abdillah’s attention to detail shows through his determination to maintain
handmade craftsmanship in his detail-driven designs. His Madu stool is an improvement on an original design he created in 2009, achieved through continuous exploration and perfection of rattan flexibility. His Lukis chair was another result of his work with rattan, and his efforts on it caught the eye of Giulio Cappellini, creative director of Italian design giant Cappellini, who noticed the chair at Casa Indonesia in 2015 and launched it in Milan the following year.
As one of the most prominent and established product designers in Indonesia, Tjitrowirjo went from being an in-house designer at an Australian furniture company to creative director of his own studio, which he founded out of frustration that the majority of Indonesia was investing in premium foreign products. Since then, AlvinT has exhibited at cornerstone design events like Milan Design Week and Maison&Objet. Throughout his journey, however, Tjitrowirjo has consciously retained his Indonesian roots in his designs, taking inspiration from traditional techniques and local materials like rattan and bamboo. The traditional influence is subtle, though, with Tjitrowirjo putting his own signature spin on products and spaces like the newly opened Ottoman’s Coffee Brewers in Jakarta, with its vernacular yet contemporary feel.
Tjitrowirjo’s work is another example of how the new generation of product designers is embracing the cultural richness of their home country, incorporating local influences through a new lens despite challenges. In this way, he is determined to educate consumers and develop the Indonesian market — he hopes that premium, locally made goods will someday be appreciated in the same way as their international competitors. And his contemporaries agree with him. ‘I want to change not the price but the perception of the value of the product itself,’ he says. ‘A welldesigned and high-quality product should be valued accordingly no matter where it comes from.’