JP/Anissa S. Febrina

Perched on a three-seater white synthetic rattan bench, a young man waits for people to drop by his corner in a creative industries exhibition.

When someone approaches, he invites the newcomer to share the bench with him and starts explaining what that bench is all about: “If you sit here and someone else takes another spot, you’ll immediately notice each other. Even if you’re looking in another direction.”

This, the man enthusiastically explains, is the raison d’être of this organic-looking piece of furniture.
Don’t mistake the piece as part of a set imported from Italy or some other country known and lauded for the elegance of its modern design — it’s made in a workshop in West Java’s Cirebon.
And don’t mistake the man for a salesman — he’s the designer himself.

Young and idealistic, Alvin Tjitrowirjo engages in furniture design as a passion and intends to make it go a long way.

“Designed by an Indonesian, made in Indonesia for the rest of the world” is the tagline he has chosen for his recently relaunched line of contemporary furniture dominated by clean iconic shapes.

Mingle, the bench he was sitting on for the exhibition, is a featured work, his brainchild and his proof that a young man can successfully be idealistic even in the increasingly commercial furniture design business.

“Mingle is based on the idea that a piece of furniture can set off a social interaction,” says the 26-year old Jakarta-based designer.

“By distorting the balance of the bench, making it rock slightly as a person sits down, it generates the probability that people will start a conversation as they notice one another, be it about the bench, or about most anything.”

Despite having designed it as his final master’s project at Madrid’s IED, the idea is very Indonesian, with its assumption that a conversation can grow from small talk if strangers are accidentally brought into contact with one another.

“I choose the rattan look also to show the Indonesian touch,” says Alvin, who earned his bachelor’s degree in industrial design from RMIT in Melbourne, Australia.

Mingle is only one of his Indonesian furniture designs that are less than typical but still rich in local values. His Snug and Satool piece and his Kawong collection are sure to arouse in the viewer curiosity about the philosophy behind the design.

To seasoned players in the furniture business, Alvin might seem like just another young newcomer. But he entered the industry with the mission of making Indonesian contemporary furniture design be properly appreciated in its own home.

In the eyes of a young designer like Alvin, Indonesian furniture design seems to be trapped in the traditional and bulky style.

“We need to come up with an iconic design we are confident of,” he says. “A design that has character.”

Design-wise, his work has already conveyed that message. It has the concept, it has the look and it has the aura of what contemporary design is all about. The problem is public appreciation.

“Yesterday, five upper-class women praised my work. But when they asked the price, their immediate response was to complain about how expensive it is,” Alvin sighed, pointing to his Rp 5 million round table bench.

One of the women’s comment was “Local products shouldn’t be that expensive, only bules will appreciate it,” he says.

“Jakarta is so import minded,” he adds. “You know how Italians love Italian designs. Well, Indonesians, too, love … Italian designs.”

Without trying to over-generalize, having been in the business for only a couple of years, Alvin already realizes most clients would prefer to buy Italian furniture at a slightly higher price than his locally made pieces.

And ironically, with his privileged background and internationally showcased works, Alvin could easily have chosen to work abroad, yet he preferred to come home and give the local industry a try.

“This will be a very long-term investment. Production and everything else will not be a problem. The main challenge is how to educate clients to appreciate the value in a design, even if it’s locally designed and made,” he says.

“Just think about it. If you buy an imported product, you’ll only help the seller. If people are starting to talk about the hype of sustainability, then part of the key of that lies in the fact that it should be locally sourced, locally designed, locally made and hopefully locally consumed.”

The key word “local” also prompts him to focus only on the domestic market, with exporting being “just for prestige, I think”.

Despite his deep passion for design, Alvin did not have the luxury of coming from an artistic family. With his father in marketing and his mother a psychologist, his choice of design as his profession was first met with resistance because “they didn’t know how far design could go”.

Quite a long way, apparently: Alvin’s designs have been featured in Milan’s Salone Satelitte and Frankfurt’s Ambiente’s Talents.

Not that furniture design was his first interest. His early drawings, like those of any typical boy with a hint of talent, included sketches of his dream car.

“I’ve always liked cars and I planned to study automotive design, but when the time to choose the major came, that studio was closed because of lack of interest from students,” he says.

Furniture appealed because he felt it was about more intimate human relationships.

“We sit on it, touch it and use it everyday,” Alvin says. That’s why perhaps his designs tend to be based on a piece of furniture’s relationship with its owner and other potential users.

He dreams of having Mingle placed in a public space, where strangers can meet and greet. “Too bad the only public spaces we have are shopping centers,” he adds.

Alvin is yet another lucky person to have turned a hobby into a profession.

“I don’t mind staying up late working on projects. It’s always fun,” he says, adding that he works most often on made-to-order pieces or collaborates with architects.

Despite his youth, Alvin already has the urge to start sharing what he knows.

“I want to start hiring interns. In a way, a designer will benefit from the help that he gets while the intern can learn a lot from the process.”

He also teaches at a private university.

“By teaching in a university, I want to help bridge the gap between the academic world and the industry, to help make students ready for the real working world.”

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