Alvin Tjitrowirjo featured in Damn Magazine: “Conversations on Happiness”
Interview by Earlwyn Covington for Damn Magazine 77 Winter 2020 / 2021
There’s a lot of suppression of progressive expression – in culture, religion, and also in design – in Indonesia. People are refrained from challenging the way of things and are even afraid of the necessary changes. I’m encouraged to set an example that there are other options to living, creating work, and also running a business.
Jakarta like many societies predetermine wealth on capitalistic levers of financial success, and this is something I have wanted to move beyond. Since the pandemic, I have tried to understand the long but rewarding process of consciousness. There’s a certain type of reward and joy in creating our own original thoughts, to reach towards the authentic. To mindfully brush off superficial values and dig deeper into the process of self-discovery through creating works is not just a path to contentment, but also freedom.
The conflicts between beautiful nature and a rich traditional culture, coupled by the lack of innovation or political corruption, forces one to create a distance where preconceived notions can be challenged and values can be developed within a personal cultural framework. Happiness or contentment should not be bound by location, possession or surrounding traditions, but move towards a state of mind, where the beginning of a lengthy journey into making reality, commerce, passion and time, work simultaneously towards a happier space of being.
