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very design created by Runi Palar tells something about nature. Perseverance has made her jewelry business thrive in Japan where Runa Jewelry has been around for the last nine years. At home, her gallery in Ubud, Bali is also frequented by Japanese tourists.

Buyers of the jewelry certainly try to understand the meanings of the designs behind them, which is where jewelry designer Runi Palar comes in. “At my annual exhibitions in Japan, customers always inquire about the significance of a certain shape, or what form a design represents,” said Runi.

For Runi, the natural world constitutes an invaluable inspiration, which she then transforms into designs of silver and gold ornaments. Water, paddy fields, timber, falling leaves, scattered twigs, hedges, stones, the blue sea, clams, grass and shrubs are just some of nature’s offerings that contribute to her luxury pieces.

Motivated by the environment, she untiringly devotes her life to the creation of her jewelry pieces. Similarly, her fans in Japan are happy to wait for her high-class products and anticipate every visit she makes. With Balinese, Javanese and avant-garde nuances, her designs are sophisticated, elegant and eclectic.

Runi was highly energetic when encountered in such department stores as Isetan in Urawa and Takashimaya in Tachikawa, both of which are located near Tokyo. During the past two years, Isetan has invited her to hold a Modern Bali Fair alongside many Indonesian craftspeople, exhibiting in various cities, including Sagamihara and Urawa in 2010, and Urawa and Tachikawa in 2011. “I carried the Indonesian flag and we were appreciated.”

A number of other top department stores are also familiar with Runi’s creations. In February 2010, she was invited to display her works aboard the cruiser Asuka II, whose passengers were wealthy Japanese tourists traveling between Singapore and Darwin, Australia. “On Asuka II, I was called Runi sensei (Japanese word for instructor or expert in a certain field),” said Runi, who presented her high-class Runa jewelry and also exclusive batik collection.

In 2007, she accepted an offer to produce 2,000 pieces of handmade jewelry, which were sold via a television shopping channel in Tokyo. At that time, Japanese television also broadcast coverage of her production process in Bali.

Cooperation was then established with the Culture and Tourism Ministry (now the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry), national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, and several Japanese companies. The advantage to Indonesia was in Japan becoming interested in selling package tours to different Indonesian destinations (including Bali) to Japanese customers.  

The mellow sound of instrumental jazz music could be heard from the living room of her traditional yet modern-style residence in Ubud, Bali, that morning. To be exact, this was the Runa House of Design & Museum in Lot Tunduh. Runi was wearing a Bali sarong with a light blouse, sitting on the back veranda and facing the fields. On a solid wooden table were various gemstones to be mixed and matched according to the designs she was sketching on white paper.

Her hand was freely drafting designs resembling the objects she found around her house yard. Nature has so many different materials and such diversity that Runi’s ideas never dry up. “The environment is a luxury and I enjoy it as part of my job,” said Runi, who recently turned 66 years of age.

The comfortable atmosphere in her home provides an ambience completely conducive for designing brooches, ear studs, earrings, bracelets, necklaces and rings. Her inspiration comes from bamboo trees, old kamboja (plumeria) trees with their unusual leaves, granaries, house terraces, village settlements, paddy fields, ducks, birds and many other things.

The actual making of the ornaments is handled at craftsmen’s workshops in Bali, Bandung and Yogyakarta, all of which apply their own traditional techniques. In Bali they use a granulation technique, in Yogyakarta, a filigree method, while in Bandung they use a pure-form technique, plus a stamping procedure that is utilized in Bandung and Yogyakarta.

Runi’s jewelry designs, according to Prof. Dr. Sudjoko Danoesoebrata from the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), are adaptable, like Runi’s dance movements. Runi used to be a dancer before she entered the jewelry business.

Runi’s creations are something that Indonesia can be proud of abroad. At home, she offers a one-stop service by combining her residence, guest house, surrounding area, design work, products and marketing to form a single unit.

Her husband, Adriaan Palar, a painter and interior designer, has also set up a gallery in the residence, which he calls the Runi Jewelry Museum, where a collection of jewels and ornaments is both stored and displayed.