Alvin Tjitrowirjo featured in Business Times: “Designing South-east Asia” as part of “Five South-east Asian designers to look out for”
Words by Helmi Yusof for Business Times Design 7 July 2022
Indonesian-born product designer Alvin Tjitrowirjo has developed a strong reputation for being faithful to his place of origin. His furniture brand AlvinT pays tribute to the humble rattan and reimagines it in fascinating ways.
He says: “The rattan that we use is indigenous to Indonesia. We work with local and traditional weavers to pass down their traditional values and wisdom through long-lasting contemporary objects and products. We utilise traditional processes that cannot be replaced by machines or robots, thus maintaining the human connection to the material.”
Tjitrowirjo says he and his team are in the process of tracing all its materials, to ensure the transparency of its sustainable sources, as well as to ensure well-being of the local community that it impacts. “We want to promote the values that make us humans. We consider our designs as an attitude to counter today’s culture of ultrafast consumerism.”
