A Journey Away to Find Indonesia

I came back to Indonesia in 2005. In retrospect, that year was essential to my journey of self-discovery, as it was then that I discovered one of my biggest motivations as a designer. Upon my return to Indonesia, a wide variety of problems in society and the design industry itself became apparent to me, like so many warning lights flickering into existence. They shone brighter than ever, and cast the nation in a different light, as I had been exposed to many countries and their cultures, giving me something to use as a baseline for evaluating my country. I realized that using the right approach, design can be a tool for the betterment of people, with Indonesia as fertile ground to unleash its true potential as a method for impact. These problems, close to my heart and where I am from, pulled me deeper into the world of design.

Raw Rattan fibres from AlvinT factory documentation Image by Christopher Octaviano

After years of contemplation, I concluded that the underlying problem in Indonesia was thus: there is a disconnect between Indonesians’ attitudes and preferences towards the country’s geography and local climate. This disconnect stems from our tendency to shun our own unique traits in favor of quick remedies and instantly following foreign trends without adapting them to a local context.

An example. As a tropical country whose territory is dominated by seawater, we should have learned from our storied heritage how to live comfortably even without air conditioning. As a country with large swaths of tropical forestry, including rattan forests, we should be able to develop sustainable and affordable methods of using rattan goods and furniture at home instead of velvety sofas, or harmful plastic baskets, which were both once trends. I don’t know if you’ve noticed by now, but we Indonesians are professional trend sheep.

We have been so disconnected from our own identity, our advantages, our capabilities, all in favor of following the hottest trends that might not even be applicable to our situation. My experience with how design can bring change in other countries and cultures allowed me to begin to solve our problems by utilizing the resources we have. Of course, I do this with respect. Because the lack of respect–say, for our local environment and heritage–is one of the reasons behind our “quickie” attitude. In pursuing this, I found my way to rattan, a versatile and fantastic yet underappreciated material, with it quickly becoming one of my greatest tools in responding to these problems.

Raw Rattan fibres in the hand of Alvin Tjitrowirjo Image by Christopher Octaviano

Today, I’m a designer mainly known for exploring rattan materials through the furniture brand AlvinT. Some of the rattan materials I’ve used are indigenous to Indonesia and present a unique visual language in today’s global furniture and interior design landscape. 

My design language and rattan’s central place in it were developed from a long history and can be traced back to my childhood. Those years when my father—who used to work in a car company—and I shared an admiration for the automotive industry. Little did I know that his lectures on the details in the features of cars, such as the humming of the window sliding open, the soft closing of the doors, and the feel of the buttons when pressed, was an immediate result of design. And the lingering memories of it all are also the result of design. 

Besides the standard general interest in drawing and the arts, it turns out that after all this time, these memories played a large part in leading me to the design field. Like stone steps through a river, these cherished moments led me to the other side – design.

But it wasn’t until I first arrived at Salone del Mobile in 2005 to exhibit my designs that I finally developed a serious interest in the design industry. The gathering of design practitioners from all over the world, who each brought their own colorful perspective, showed me the possibilities inherent to design, even those that seemed far-fetched and impossible.

Petal Chair by AlvinT

Now, I always strive to leave a lasting impression through my design, to make it memorable, as I believe that the greatest sin we can commit as designers is to create designs that easily fade from our hearts and minds. This, in addition to exploring even the farthest of possibilities, plus designing with respect, are what drive my design language, especially when using rattan as a medium of expression.

Rattan is my chosen medium to realize my drive in a more concrete form. To me, it is a means of shaping the ideal of “Made in Indonesia” to sharpen and make Indonesian designs memorable. The natural fast growth of rattan, in contrast to the slow, careful furniture handmade by craftsmen (not machines), can also become alternatives to wood in today’s warming climate.

The design form that responds to and highlights the unique traits of rattan material, not eliminates, creates tactile memories that hopefully will help the objects I’ve created linger in people’s lives for a long time. They will become a reminder of humanity when it’s highly needed.

It’s funny that if I didn’t turn away from my country for a while, I wouldn’t have arrived at this point. It really is true that a journey allows you to find yourself in a literal sense. Uniquely, to converse with the world, you need to form your own language, and nothing is as plentiful in filling your dictionary as finding yourself.