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Jakartans find relief from urban stress in classic calligraphy
Inside a small and quiet craft shop in Pluit, North Jakarta, 10 people work with oblique pens, pointed nibs and ink in a calligraphy course held by 30 year-old calligrapher Sri Ratna.
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Artful touch: Calligrapher Akwet works at his studio in Glodok, Jakarta, in this file photo. (JP/A. Kurniawan Ulung)
L
iving in a fast-paced urban environment like Jakarta can be stressful and tiring. Many Jakartans choose to relieve that stress by going to shopping malls, movie theaters or amusement parks.
However, a small fraction of the capital city’s residents choose to find solace in quite an unusual activity, learning the ancient art of classic calligraphy.
Inside a small and quiet craft shop in Pluit, North Jakarta, 10 people work with oblique pens, pointed nibs and ink in a calligraphy course held by 30 year-old calligrapher Sri Ratna. For Rp 650,000 (US$ 47), the 10 participants learned the fundamentals of copperplate calligraphy, a writing style that developed in Europe in the early 17th century.
One of the participants, Jessica Sandra, 24, an office worker from Central Jakarta said she was interested in joining the course because it taught classic calligraphy rather than the more modern and popular brush pen calligraphy.
“It’s a classic copperplate calligraphy course, so I thought it was very unique and interesting. It’s different from brush pen calligraphy, which has become quite common,” Jessica told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.
Jessica, who had never tried calligraphy before, said she was looking for an activity to refresh herself from the stress of work.
“I’ve joined a lot of craft workshops before, such as soap making, a flower arrangement class and a wax sachet workshop. I’ve wanted to take a calligraphy course for a while, and now I have the chance. I think making crafts is a great way to relieve stress,” she said as she dipped her pen in the ink bottle.
