Indonesia Design - Defining Luxury
More than Meets the Eye
Hermawan Tanzil believes that design has to relate to culture. This can be seen on the signature style of his design firm, Leboye, where he successfully applies elements of Indonesian culture. But what he has done to support the growth of the creative industry in Indonesia is much more than that.
Hermawan grew up in a time where being a graphic designer was not the “it” profession in Indonesia. But his family owned a printing business, so he was familiar with graphic design and knew that was what he wanted to do in life. To prove so, Leboye was founded in 1990 and has been standing strong until now. Design is much more than just illustrating or making something look good. In his words, “I believe that design can shape a culture. It can share good values when it’s designed with good values.” He also believes that art is for everyone. It’s what encouraged him and his wife, Engel Tanzil, to create the Dia.lo.gue Artspace in Kemang, Jakarta. It is an alternative space to introduce art and design to the public, and was designed by Andra Matin. It also has a gift shop, a café, an art gallery and a capacious multipurpose lawn on the first floor. The second floor is where magic is brewed at the Leboye office. From 29 November 2019 until 31 January 2020 a graphic design exhibition called “Seek A Seek #2” took place in Dia.lo.gue. Forty nine designers and design firms participated and created their exhibition booths with their own means. The aim was to support the existence of graphic design in Indonesia. “The graphic design community is pretty big. I think good values will come out of it if we supported one another,” Hermawan said. The exhibition was also a part of Bintaro Design District. Although he was the only graphic designer in the BDD curator team, he had the same responsibility as the others, who were architects. “I’ve had a lot of experience in holding exhibitions with various communities at Dia. Lo.gue. But I have the same goal with the rest of the team, which is to see significant progress in Indonesian design in general,” Hermawan said.