MAN AT WORK: Creating a work for Pong Me! Lounge in Jakarta. (Courtesy of Zaky Arifin)

If you are a regular at Jakarta’s trendy F&B and lifestyle establishments, including its new crop of office buildings, chances are you would have seen examples of Zaky Arifin’s many works. He does a variety of graphic design jobs, from producing works for hotels and businesses, to showing his skills with artistic demonstrations to decorate restaurants and other establishments. Geometric shapes and lines are often part of his works that also extend to sneakers, tumblers and stationery.

The 33-year-old said graphic design was always his calling. He remembers taking part in a sculpture contest in elementary school after being nominated by his class representative. He won — it happened that there were no other contestants on the day.

“Actually, I began by studying graphic design, and from that I began to question the definition of art and how to understand it. By becoming familiar with art, I tried to strengthen my graphic design through understanding art,” he said in an email interview.

Zaky said the most interesting part of graphic design was “the brainstorming and the exploration. With each new case, I always learn new things that I have never explored previously”.

His creative process involves collecting sufficient data for study, before the testing and exploration phase to make a sketch. From the sketch begins the concept for the design. “But the process is often disrupted by other daily activities that eventually become part of the creative process itself.”

His signature style?

“I don’t want to say that ‘repetition of lines’ is my trademark, but this is the visual language that I use at this time and that represents what I want to convey. This exploration actually began from my memories as a child until now,” said Zaky, who added that he was inspired by the works of the late sculptor, graphic artist and poster designer Shigeo Fukuda.

He said good design was the challenge to communicate in design with whatever materials were available. Form and function took exploration and the process of trial and error.

“In my design, I always strive to provide communication. When that is achieved, there is no reason for me to decorate it anymore,” said Zaky, who has also taken part in many graphic design exhibitions.

Zaky’s strongest memory from his career is taking part in the Frankfurt Book Fair 2015. Indonesia was the honorary guest to present its design and literature at the main pavilion.

“We were challenged to collaborate with various subsectors and how to present everything well. It was here that my nationalistic mindset came to the fore, even though it was only a small part of Indonesia,” he said.

He quotes the host saying that, “the designs of the previous honorary guest nations were cooler, but Indonesia’s was warmer”.

He runs Studio Minor, an alternative studio to work on projects outside the main projects in his career and in his own name. He collaborates with individuals and other designers, most of whom are friends.

“It’s a place for me to discuss and brainstorm to overcome problems, and also find solutions to every project that we handle.”

Naturally, much of his work involves communicating with clients; there are the good times of mutual understanding and sharing ideas.

“Working with a client is a collaboration, a two-way discussion to find a solution to the problem they face together. If the communication is only one way, then all our efforts will be pointless,” he said.

Asked who he would like to collaborate with, Zaky said the government. His goal for 10 years down the line?

“To have a bigger studio for Studio Minor,” he said.

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