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Melissa Sunjaya's Whimsical World
Power of imagination: A model showcases Tulisanâs fall/winter 2014-2015 latest collection
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Power of imagination: A model showcases Tulisan's fall/winter 2014-2015 latest collection.
Melissa Sunjaya's love of storytelling is on display in her latest Tulisan collection.
The Tulisan brand, now in its fourth year, has expanded, with the opening of a second flagship store in the heart of Jakarta.
Melissa, the brand's artist and founder, said the new store was a result of the love of storytelling by both her and her mother, Didi H. Hersubeno.
'We always wanted to have more room for imagination ' therefore, we set up a place like this. For us, [opening a new store] brings a different kind of adrenaline rush,' Melissa said on the sidelines of the store's opening.
Located on the second floor of Plaza Senayan shopping mall in Central Jakarta, the 88-square-meter Tulisan store immediately captures one's attention with its decorative window display portraying a romantic dinner party in the middle of a winter-white pine forest.
Melissa and her mother designed the store on their own, in a strong spirit of do-it-yourself. Melissa hand painted the window with silhouettes of coniferous trees, while Didi selected the furniture and room fixtures.
The window display will change on a monthly basis.
For Tulisan's fall/winter 2014-2015 print editions, Melissa has created 'Plume' and 'Wonder' ' with 'Plume' a composition of barn owl feathers and 'Wonder' an art nouveau-inspired illustration of a catfish and its habitat.
'The catfish is one of those you often see in a fish tank,' said the 40-year-old artist, who studied Visual Communication Design at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, US.
Melissa developed the fall/winter 2014-2015 collection together with her close friends visual artist Weina Ding, who resides in Spain, and Polish product designer Michael Gorzynski, who specializes in the yacht industry.
For the new collection, Melissa and her team selected high-quality trimmings, while developing cleaner fabricating techniques to produce distinct characters. Twelve sets of collector's items are ready for limited purchase this month.
The textiles used in the collection are hand-screened through an elaborate and meticulous artisanal process, which includes producing the film, developing the screens, mixing the colors, drying, creating and pressing.
'Those methods have to be repeated every time we register a new layer of color. 'Wonder' undergoes a complex four-color production,' she says.
For the art prints, Tulisan products are printed using water-based inks on unbleached raw cotton canvas to allow transparency and show every imperfection during the serigraphy process.
'Irregular ink coverage, offset in ink registration and the dark speckles of cotton seeds make each printed piece unique,' said Melissa.
In terms of design, three to six prototypes are made for each design and all assembling methods are evaluated many times until the final stage, where the Tulisan team discovers an ideal shape with zero-waste cutting patterns.
Tulisan products are not made to follow the market's demand ' but with the mindset of an artist. It produces 23 items with only 30 to 50 pieces per item for each season.
'All that matters for us is making things in a simple way, but with the best effort we can. In Tulisan, we're telling stories that honestly come from our experiences, dreams, prayers and wishes,' said Melissa, who plans to let her company grow organically.
Melissa's mother, Didi, said the stores and everything inside were special for her.
'My mother once said to me that people are born to create things that others appreciate and allow them to make a living out of it ['¦] Our organization is not money-oriented. I just want to help share the joy that life has given me,' the 64-year-old said.
For Didi, creating did not have to mean making something from scratch ' she loves giving new touches to old things.
'A chandelier that we have in the second store, for example, I refurbished it from an old one that I had at home. I also make bag accessories that are made out of waste material from [other Tulisan] products ' so, there is no waste in the production,' she says.
Didi, who is more into interior designing and sewing, said her skills and those of Melissa complement each other in Tulisan. 'Melissa has been more into painting, while I'm more into interior designing. However, we do fight sometimes, for example, in deciding which color we want to use,' she said.
For Didi, the one thing that sets Tulisan's creations apart from others is the story that comes along with each product. All of the stories come entirely from Melissa's imagination.
'Melissa, who has loved to paint since she was little, is very imaginative. And her illustrations are very detailed.'
Photos courtesy of Tulisan
