Our latest project

This is the first in a series of custom painted Eames chairs. The design is our interpretation of a Javanese Batik pattern, inspired by a piece in my mother-in-law's batik collection. We used metallic copper paint on a vintage fiberglass armshell chair (saved from an auditorium fire). This first one was presented as a wedding gift to Anton (Cynthia's brother) and Elda, but there are more to come in the series. We're really excited that the project was featured on Design*Sponge recently. Please check it out for more info.

Tokyo

Way back in November, Cynthia and I stopped over in Tokyo for 3 days. This was my first time there and Cynthia’s first visit in many years. We were quite jet lagged the entire time, but made the best of it by dragging our tired asses all over that city. Even though we were in constant motion we still only saw a small fraction of what’s available. As luck would have it, we happened to be there during the 100% design show. While it may be old news for some people, we wanted to share our opinion of the show. Here are a few words from Cynthia and a selection of photos from the trip. Enjoy.

Cynthia had this to say…

100% DESIGN TOKYO

We visited Tokyo, Japan on our way to Jakarta just in time to catch 100% Design show. This event originally was a yearly event in London and this is the second year of the Tokyo version. The event showcases furniture & product design work from up & coming and established names. Since they wouldn’t allow us to take photos inside, check out the links we provide. Most of these sites are a wealth of information.

For up & coming designers, we really like Designboom’s effort to expose designers representing different countries. A design company from South Korea called No Name No Shop (www.nonamenoshop.com) had very unique concepts. They showed kits made of wood and other natural materials, that can be made into fantastic objects like fairies…Check out this link: www.designboom.com/snapshots/tokyomart06

The Dutch stand was the most prominent. Royal Tichelaar Makkum ( www.tichelaar.nl ), a very old ceramic flatware company hired young Dutch designers to create lines. Studio Job, a very cool design couple that the world has been hearing so much about, made plates that are nowhere close to the blue on ceramics typical of the classic Dutch style. These plates were our favorite piece in 100% Design.

Marcel Wanders was the design rock star of this event. He designed souvenir pieces for the event. And he also showcased his new collection for Puma. We didn’t care much for the stuff he was showing but we’re still big fans. This man designed the Knot Chair!

Outside they had containers that were used as gallery spaces. We met the Hulger phone designer, they’re old phone handset that attaches to your cell phones. He said his next step is making them for Skype! We’ll keep an eye out for that.

Hulger container at 100% design

coffee shop outside the fish market.
Yes, the photo shows the whole thing.
This place was awesome. Run by the older lady behind the counter.
The coffee wasn't great, but the experience was well worth it.

Love hotel

Great Contemporary Japanese restaurant

Actually taken in Singapore.
We couldn't figure out why there were dear playing basketball
or what it had to do with ANA

This is Cold Starbucks on a 7-11 shelf. There's a microwave next to it.

Fish Market

Life has been crazy...

... over the last month and a half. We just haven't had much time to post anything. I am catching up though. This week I'll be posting a back log of miscellaneous stuff including our trip to Japan and images from a project we've been working on. Stay tuned!

Pimp My Ride

We saw this scooter around the corner from our house. Each panel is covered in Batik fabric, and the scooter itself was a low rider. Neither one of those feature are very practical in Jakarta, but both make for a very cool ride.

Melcome

Welcome to our blog. We’re a couple of nomadic self-(un)employed designers feeling a little lost in new environments. Our interest will be heavy on the arts, design, youth culture and everything in between. Our current location is Jakarta, Indonesia. Most of the things we write about are first experiences.

In my case, I’m rediscovering a place where I grew up. I am going to stay in Indonesia until spring 2007. Unfortunately, my husband, Chris will leave me here for a couple of months while he heads home to Chicago for family reasons.

We will both be contributing to this blog on a regular basis, so please come back!
Comments are absolutely welcomed since our goal is to start dialogs with like-minded people. Enjoy!

Our first post: A weekend in Jakarta, Indonesia

Friday:

We started the weekend at TOIMOI shop in Kemang for a group art show. Toimoi is an interesting little store that focuses on trendy local and international product design. They recently extended their shop to include a nice gallery that features several young artists.
We really liked the unpretentious feeling of the space (a rarity in Jakarta), with its high walls, loft for storage, and modest office tucked away in the back.

The group show “Fringes, vol. 1” is a collection of paintings and drawings from various artists that will be showing here regularly in the future. Overall, the show had a lot of eye-candy and was really fun to look at. The works were very playful, and it was obvious that there was a lot of creative energy surrounding the show. This type of event needs to happen way more often in Jakarta. It seems that youth culture here is hungry for creative outlets and eager to express themselves.

We moved on to a weekly party run by my brothers (in law) called TURN ON PLASTIC at Centro. Hard to believe their 11 years anniversary is coming up soon. Hope to see old friends at the anniversary party.


Saturday:

Our day was suppose to revolve around the Jakarta Intl Film Festival, but we wasted movie tickets and did other things instead.

We tried Blenger Burger in our neighborhood. It’s a successful local burger joint created by a group of young guys. I’m pretty sure they got the idea for their special sauce from In & Out Burger in California. Strawberry juice was a delight for the hot afternoon. My Blenger experience was spoiled while I was waiting for our food when my friend told me on the phone that they microwave the burgers inside Styrofoam boxes. Sure enough, I saw them do it. She kept telling me “Microwaving Styrofoam causes cancer. Don’t eat there. Be careful!” Who knows? I guess one time won’t hurt.

In the afternoon, we caught a brief fashion show for the launch of EDWARD HUTABARAT’s fashion photo book. The event took place in a very odd location. It was in a Kinokuniya bookstore inside a mall. My sister, Amalia, took us there because she’s been a fan of his work. Hutabarat uses Javanese batik prints applied to contemporary dress silhouettes that are just great. I was excited to see well-designed outfits that are not all fancy and embellished. It’s just about good design. The book is beautiful but over-designed, so I decided to not buy it. I’d rather save my money for Edward’s dresses. Can’t wait to see his new boutique in Kemang Icon.

After the event we met up with well-known furniture designer, Leonard Theosabrata He’s probably one of the most successful product/ furniture designer in Indonesia right now. Everybody here knows his “Accuputo” chairs (www.accupunto.com). Cool guy and smart, too. He gave us the 411 of design in Indonesia. Hopefully we’ll be working with him in the future.

We asked about cataloging artists and designers in Indonesia. Who’s doing it or is it even happening? Both my sister and Leo answered passionately, “ Nobody!” They said maybe the British Council but they don’t really have the capability to handle the scale of work. But why are they doing this job? Shouldn’t the Indonesian government do it?

Around 8 or 9 pm Burger Blenger took revenge on Chris’s stomach. Oops! We had to rush home.

Sunday:

Chris woke up tired and pale. I am waiting for my turn, but so far I’m fine.

We wanted to go shopping for old furniture pieces like legs or just a tabletop, so we headed to Ciputat area. There are rows and rows of shops selling reconditioned antique furniture and various parts (if you ask). We checked out the first row and found a big bowl made from one piece of wood for $9 US. You can also find furniture from the Dutch colony era, Art Deco to Mid-century modern.















In the evening, we caught a Japanese movie called “ A Stranger Of Mine” at JIFFEST (www.jiffest.org). It’s a simple, well-written comedy that tells the story of one day from the perspective of several intertwining characters. This movie definitely makes me think of others like Pulp Fiction or Memento, but much lighter though.

So… That was our eventful weekend in Jakarta. Our future posts probably won’t be as long. We’ll be sharing stories of our other travels and miscellaneous things that interest us.
Thanks for reading,
C+C