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Jewelry company to boost output despite controversy
John Hardy Ltd
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John Hardy Ltd. will double production in its Bali plant this year despite continuing allegations the company had registered copyrights in the United States on hundreds of Indonesia's traditional motifs.
"Currently we produce 10,000 pieces of (silver) jewelry a month and we want to make it 20,000 soon," chief executive officer Damien Dernoncourt told The Jakarta Post in Denpasar on Aug. 7.
Without mentioning the exact amount, he said the Hong-Kong based jewelry company planned to invest some hundreds of thousands of dollars to finance the production surge.
"We want to hire 112 more people this year but it will depend on how fast we can recruit and train them here," he said.
He added the company -- exporting to Asia, the Caribbean, the Middle East and North America -- now had 800 employees at its plant in Mambal village, Badung regency, and another 600 workers outside the firm's facility.
He said the company, which had tripled its sales in the last four years, was now aiming for new markets in Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany and the United Kingdom.
Dernoncourt commented on the allegations.
"We have never, ever registered any of Indonesia's traditional motifs for a very simple reason: We can't. It is illegal to copyright Indonesian or Balinese traditional motifs.
"We never did, we are not doing it and we will never do it."
Dernoncourt said, even if the legal system allowed it, they would not copyright motifs because they already had everything they needed to create their own designs.
"We have 80 people (designers) here, most of them are Balinese, creating so many beautiful things, and they are all inspired by the rice, the bamboo and the sky around them.
"The designers draw their inspiration from everything including nature."
Dernoncourt said other designers could be inspired by the same thing to create their own designs and motifs.
"I don't mind that, just don't copy our designs, don't create the same things which our designers, these talented people, have come up with because it's killing their work," he said.
He said he was just trying to protect the creative efforts of designers working in the company.
"The company started 30 years ago in Bali. Since the 1970s the operation has expanded from 50 to 800 employees," he said.
He said people all over the world believed in the John Hardy brand and such a reputation was possible because the company could protect what it was developing.
"It is very important for us to protect our copyrights because we also want to protect the efforts of our people and to make sure this company can continue to grow," he said.
He said copyright protection was really important in the modern economy and Indonesia had done a great service in this area.
"Indonesia's copyright law is on the right track because it allows us to protect our creativity and helps us elect to invest here.
"If we are successful here, we can furnish a good example of what Indonesia could offer as John Hardy is very famous in various countries," he said.
He said the local silver artisans did not have to worry. "If they are truly genuine artists and creative people, they can grow and develop their own collections."
