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Jakarta Post

When Gatot Kaca meets Armani

Romantic atmosphere blends with a touch of glamor for a living room

Niken Prathivi (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Sun, August 5, 2012

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When Gatot Kaca meets Armani

Romantic atmosphere blends with a touch of glamor for a living room. JP/P.J. Leo

Come inside, take a seat and try to relax. Then let the epic tale of Ramayana be your living room entertainment.

The welcoming gesture came from interior designer Alex Bayusaputra, who with several other designers, were showcasing a diorama for Inspirational Homes at the recent Casa by Bravacasa of Bazaar Art Jakarta 2012.

Smoothly, Alex infused shadow puppetry and the magnificent Borobudur Temple ornaments with modern and sophisticated touches of Italian furniture, sending the romantic atmosphere of Indonesian culture wrapped in European elegance.

Eclectic touch of blue high-back chairs meet  metal-made puppetry ornament in golden color in a dining room. JP/R. Berto Wedhatama
Eclectic touch of blue high-back chairs meet metal-made puppetry ornament in golden color in a dining room. JP/R. Berto Wedhatama Under the warm yet dramatic lighting of a yellowish spotlight, Alex successfully created a cozy and subtle atmosphere of a theater-like room.

The man, who is from Genius Loci interior architecture and design, said that each designer translated the exhibition’s theme — Indonesian heritage and shadow puppetry — into their works.

The Bravacasa’s Inspiration Home also displayed dioramas of established Indonesian interior designers, such as Diana Nazir, Hidayat Endramukti, Roland Adam, ID12 and Suyin Pramono.

“We don’t want to make a Javanese kind of house here. So, I take the Indonesian heritage and mix it with Italian. It’s like Gatot Kaca meets Armani. It’s more fusion, kind of eclectic style,” Alex says.

JP/P.J.Leo
JP/P.J.Leo
Gatot Kaca is a hero character in the Mahabharata epic, which is dear to Indonesian culture, especially the Javanese. Meanwhile, Armani/Casa, or Armani Home, is a high-end home collection by Italian designer Giorgio Armani.

Alex’s design stood out for its comic book-style backdrop, which displayed scenes from Ramayana in an almost true to shadow puppetry approach.

“The shadow puppetry is made of membrane. The puppetries are made of art papers and we put light behind it, just like the real [shadow puppet] one, but in a simple way,” he said.

The shadow puppetry ornament, which was lending a solid but delicate touch of Indonesia, was placed in an L-shape, from the right side of the living room’s wall, and served as a backdrop of the blue sofa.

The Ramayana story used for the wall decoration told a love story between Rama and Shinta.

The design included a gunungan, a mountain-shaped tree of a life as a symbol of the universe, and then the story’s main characters — Rama, Shinta and Laksmana — were seen in the garden. From then on, the story unfolds, including the big battle between Rama and the evil Rahwana.

Apart from the shadow puppetry, Alex also provides the living room with less than a one meter-sized temple ornament on a platform on one corner, plus four ethnic lamps that are placed loosely on the rugged floor.

To polish it up, Alex puts in Italian-made furniture, including the light brown-and-blue sofa and a purple chair.

“The furniture products are all Italian, except the bronze table, which is from Yogyakarta. All the Italian furniture is from Prememoria,” adds Alex. “We put the blue, purple and even the green leaves as accents to punch up the atmosphere.”

Next to the living room, the designed displayed dining room, furnished with, among others, a brown wooden dining table, along with a huge-sized painting of Borobudur in the backdrop.
A secret terrace, perfect for a private moment. JP/P.J. Leo
A secret terrace, perfect for a private moment. JP/P.J. Leo

“Indonesia has various details which we contrast with the clean look of the Italian style. The basic idea [of this designing] is to prevent heavy look,” says Alex. “Mixing it is, in fact, a perfect combination.”

The Indonesian Young Interior Designer (DIMM) translated heritage into “communication between a father and a son” for their diorama.

Interestingly, DIMM did not put any Indonesian traditional ornaments in their works. Instead, they symbolized communication between the two generations — especially the time when a father handing down his legacy to his son — through thousands of colorful strings and tin-can phones that separate two study rooms.

“Single Room” working space. JP/P.J. Leo
“Single Room” working space. JP/P.J. Leo
“We interpret heritage as a legacy, which means things that a father gives to his son. The legacy can be the father’s story of his life. However, basically, it’s about communication between the two,” said DIMM principal Ibam Arafi Bastaman.

Besides Ibam, DIMM is also the creative home for young designers, such as James Laksamana, Ellyana Tse, Grace Hartanti, Budi Setiawan, George Ananda, RR. Dinda I Wulansari and Estieka Jasmine.

“This diorama is actually about new spirit. We never try to look up on a certain theme. It was instantly made,” Ibam says.

DIMM’s diorama two study rooms that were not necessarily connecting to each other.

One room reflected the father’s room — furnished with classic things, including a rustic brown chair with leather seat, a head of a horse-shaped wooden statue, an old-man briefcase and an antique-look table light at the corner; all in mute brown color.

The other displayed the son’s modern and colorful room. The son’s study room showcased a modern white chair, colorful tiles, pop painting and a carousel-look wooden horse statue.

“The similar thing between the two rooms is the desk, painted in two different colors, the strings and the old-school tin-can phones that actually connect one another.
Two study rooms are symbolically separated by thousands of colorful strings. JP/P.J. Leo
Two study rooms are symbolically separated by thousands of colorful strings. JP/P.J. Leo

“We had to do the desk ourselves to fit the strings element. We painted dark brown in the father’s room and clean white in the son’s room,” explains Ibam, adding the colorful strings work as symbol to describe “time quantum” between the two generations.

Through the “time quantum” strings and the tin-can phones, the father and son can communicate a part of the father’s way in delivering his legacy to the son.

Ibam was aware that the DIMM’s design in the diorama may not fit in a regular house.

“However, we’d like to bring more people to see what’s interior design is really about.

“To me, design is about dialog between subject and object. Without the dialog, there is no such beauty thing in design. Therefore, we put the communication concept as the heritage that is applied in our design.”

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