Pint sized: Joger has a special room for toddler'€™s t-shirts

Amid the successful sustainability of his 34-year-old clothing brand, Pabrik Kata-Kata Joger, in Bali, Joseph Theodorus Wulianadi, 63, says that he is a happy-go-lucky guy, who still learns to run his business.

He said that his company, which has risen to fame due to its popular funny messages since 1981, was still like a toddler, who still crawled and had yet to walk.

'€œAs of today, Joger is still holding soft opening and it will stay that way for forever,'€ he said on Friday.

He said soft opening because he did not want his three decades-business to burden him. If it disappointed his customers, he just apologized to them and hoped their understandings because it was still in a learning process.

Around 1.8 kilometers southeast of Kuta beach, the 609-square-meter outlet of Joger, opened from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day on Jl. Raya Kuta, sells T-shirts, cups, sandals, and other souvenirs that bear witty, inspiring, humorous and naughty messages.

One of the most popular taglines is '€œJoger Jelek, Bali Bagus'€, which literally means Joger is bad, while Bali is good.

Well known as Mr. Joger, Joseph said that the tagline remained valid as of today. He still called his products bad and was not worried about it.

'€œI will never say that Joger is good,'€ he said.

He said that either good or bad related to taste and each person had different taste. If he called his products good, there would be some people who disagreed and began to look for their ugliness.

In a bid to prevent a debate, he preferred to call his products bad. The most important matter was that he ensured that all of his products were made of best qualities and designs, he said.

'€œDebating about taste is useless. If I say that Joger is good, I have to prove it,'€ he said, adding that if people called Joger good, he praised God.

Shopping: People browsing for Joger souvenirs.

Such character is the happiness key for Joseph either in his personal life or in his clothing business, which he said, was oriented to happiness, not money.

Joseph said that he was still happy even when he was facing many problems because they took place under God'€™s permit. Everything that came from him was always positive because it contained powerful messages that should be understood by his creatures on earth.

The adherent to Roman Catholic said that many people, regardless of their religions, came to him and asked the key of being happy. Its answer was only one, namely praising God anytime and anywhere.

He, sometimes, confused when many priests came to him to ask his happiness key and at one blow, confessed their sins although he rarely went to church, he said.

He said that those who did not believe in happiness meant that he doubted the existence of God.

'€œHappiness has nothing to do with material things, such as money and wealth,'€ said the writer of a book entitled Buku Bodoh, Sekolah Dasar Nasib Baik (Stupid Book, Elementary School and Good Fortune).

Joseph said that he also never stopped praising God for having introduced him with many great people, including German classmate Gerhard Seeger when he was still studying at hospitality school Hotelfachschule in West Germany in 1973 after finishing his formal study at St Joseph Catholic senior high school in Denpasar in 1970.

Mr. Joger

He said that he once studied economy at Widya Mandala University in Surabaya, East Java. However, he left it because it was not his passion.

He said that he recalled when Seeger helped give him a job as a waiter at his hotel, Schwanen-Bernhausen, to help finance his life in German.

After being the best graduate at his hospitality school, Joseph was offered by Seeger to work at another hotel owned by his friend. However, Joseph rejected the offer and returned to Indonesia in 1976.

In the country, with a capital of Rp 500,000 (US$38), he worked as a door-to-door trader and a freelance tour guide for German tourists. On Jan. 19, 1979, he tied the knot with Ery Koesdarijati, who then gave him two sons, namely Dero Caksono and Armand Setiawan.

He said that out of the blue, Seeger prized him money worth $20,000 during the wedding ceremony. He was shocked and wanted to reject it, but he couldn'€™t because Seeger forced him to accept.

'€œHe [Seeger] told me that if I refused [the money], I had to waste it to the sea. Because at that time I was mentally healthy, I didn'€™t do that and used it as a capital to build Art & Batik Shop Joger on Jan. 19, 1981,'€ he said.

Joseph said that he named the shop Joger to respect his former classmate because it was the combination between the abbreviation of his name, Jo, and that of Seeger'€™s first name, Ger.

He then opened two branches of Joger in 1986. However, three years later, he closed them to prevent him from being too rich.

In 1990, he named his shop Pabrik Kata-Kata Joger to comply with the government'€™s policy that forbad the using of western names.

He said he was the only creator of humors and jokes at his shop, adding that he could make at least 10 messages every day. The inspiration came from everything he saw and experienced.

Spreading happiness for more people was major goal of Joger, said Joseph, who is also the younger brother of Jaya Suprana, the founder of Indonesia Museum of Records (MURI).

He said that the happiness was delivered not only through his products, but also various charity programs to help orphans and to finance the development and maintenance of mosques, churches, temples and other public facilities in Bali.

'€œHappiness is success. So, we have to maintain it in our lives,'€ he said.

Outside: The scene outside the Joger store.

'€”Photos by A.Kurniawan Ulung