Isn't that what you wanna do?

Got Me Thinking

The end of year does.

Staying In

Having not spend barely any times at home, I found myself mellowed by the ambiance of loneliness in my own bedrooms. Not just in Melbourne, not only in Hildesheim, but in my bedrooms everywhere else including here today. It usually happened after I took a long unnecessary mid-day nap and waking up just barely close to the sunset, when I'm not getting what I want and couldn't do anything about it, spending too much time on my own and running away from work that I suppose to do.

This night reminded me of what I usually do when I feel lonely.
I would:
- Heat up a pack of milk and add a bit of vanilla and sugar in it
- Have some McVities on the side
- Watch cooking shows on Youtube, could be Jamie Oliver, Nigella, Master Chef
- Do some random illustrations or watercolour
- Make some handcraft stuff I can do in my bedroom
- Write

These things calmed me down and occupied me until I felt tired and hibernated once again.

Some things you need to comprehend in life...

Anyway,

I'll die trying if I don't make it in the end.

Banyan Tree

I think sometimes we are blurred by all these hypes and coolness and profanity of the world. We wanted to be someone that we don't even know. We wanted to stay at some nice hotels that we can't even afford. And fulfilment sometimes came from being like someone that we don't even know. Or from staying at some cool hotels.

What if you become someone that you really want to be and someone with your own purpose?
What if you own that hotel and make changes in the live of people around you?

The thoughts came after watching Ho Kwon Ping, the owner of Banyan Tree, on Bloomberg TV this morning. People might not get what you're doing right now, sometimes you don't even see it. But always remember that you strive towards a larger goal, which only can be seen once it's done. Embrace the process and don't ever doubt to stay on your path.

He says his resilience taught him a lesson: "You never should try to be what you are not. What you have, whatever disadvantages you may have, is what you have and... you have to create something unique out of it."

- Quoted from BBC.com

Be careful when you possess access, you might be defensive, you might be blocking people's way, you might be rude, you might be arrogant. 

Why do we let ourselves fall into the same mediocrity like everyone else is...

Clarity

To focus and to have a clear goal.

Is something that we're lacking.

Look at the Japanese, at how they manage to run a family business of generations to live from. How they persist in how imperfect their works are still. And how they are never tired of improving themselves. Never get jealous of what others are doing, never swayed by the trend or the coolness.

I think we are too greedy, wanting to be everything in the world.

The truth is we can't.

Be that tofu maker in a rural city, a confectioner from the corner of the street that people are looking for, a woodworker of a thousand chair and that guy doing kintsugi. Choose of a part in the world that you want to play role of, because only from there, you can possess the firmness, the guts and the clarity in answering your call.

I think I can just live by meeting my favourite people.

Bodyslam!!

Found that song we heard at Asiatique.

Chinatown Dinner

One night, we took the boat from Saphan Taksin to N8, where Chinatown is. Always a vibrant place everywhere, the one in Bangkok was a pretty exciting one. Everything here seemed to be done in a massive scale including durians, octopus, noodles, pork, you name it they got it. 

Does it have to be that big?

We ended up at a seafood stall, enjoying our dinner until the rain poured.

TCDC

Can easily stay here during the rest of our time in Bangkok.

Family Dinner

Found on the road side from our hostel to BTS Asok.

Getting There

Last few days have been filled with mixed feelings, including:

1. Panic

2.Tired

3. Excited

4. Confusion

5. Dilemma

6. Fun

Seems like there have been too many things happening in the last few days. We woke up super early on Saturday morning, met up at the airport, got our things checked in, searched for kunci L throughout the whole airport, slept on air, got there and set up our furniture at the exhibition, got very hungry and exhausted, went to the hotel, slept like a sweaty baby, woke up early for the opening, stood at our booth, partied, bleh. 

After some days spent at the exhibition, finally we got a time to go out and explore a bit.

Bangkok is:

1. Liveable

2. Clean

3. Neat

4. Connected

5. Active

How can we make a living here?

Project Khatulistiwa

Übermench

Rises above their circumstances and difficulties to embrace whatever life throws at them.
- Neecha

Exhibiting Soon

General Object will be participating in a rather exciting exhibition soon. We have prepared for a couple of months now, our new products, in reaction to present days living problem. Collaborating with two other talented product designers, our works will represent different backgrounds, hence turning the collaboration into a complex yet comprehensive one.

For some time now, I think haven't been designing something quite thoughtful. Blame the commercialisation of things in Indo, haha. But yes, I do feel that I feel more inspired when I'm overseas, for life is so good and you barely need to survive. In Indo, all I think about is how to get things done and rarely think about the bigger picture. Wrong.

So this coming up exhibition is a pretty enlightening one, for one can take her time to think things through, such a privilege we often forget about.

Anyway, the exhibition will be coming in mid October.

But in the end,

Who is it
That is always there?

When Work Has Become Satisfaction

As weird as it sounds, I enjoy my time in the car alone. Particularly when I get out of the building in the early morning, I will turn my music on, put on my sunnies and drive happily to wherever I'm heading. Especially when I have a certain tune that I'm wanting to listen that morning, I'll be quite excited to get into my car and drive. Driving gives me the time to think things through. Maybe it's somewhat therapeutic like swimming does to many people.

Getting to the place I need to work on that day is rather exciting too! Due to work circumstances, working does not have to be done from the cubicle. On the contrary, we try to work at various locations and get ourselves moving each day. This exercise opens up our perspectives and helps us to be relevant to the present needs.

And for me, working till late night provides a distinct satisfaction. It simply gives a feeling that one has worked hard enough (or it's just a matter of time management, I don't know). But all the crazy thoughts simply show themselves at this hour of the day! It has become a satisfaction to finish things off, to volunteer, to work until I'm just too tired and to sleep late.

Work has quite become an identity. Some people does branded bags, pretty face, car driven, watch worn, slim legs, but it's work for me.

Epicurus said one should never ever eat anything alone; it’s more important to have a simple meal with a special friend, than to eat all sorts of delicacies all by ourselves.

Sleep Deprived

As I sat on Karsa chair during GO exhibition days at Mall Kelapa Gading, I watched carefully as a continuous flow of people kept flooding to this booth selling latex pillows across my booth. There were random groups of people touching, asking, pretending to sleep on the pillows, trying to mimic their sleeping position at home.

I was wondering. Why do people love to buy pillows? Personally, I don't get the logic because I don't buy pillows (yet).

Those who came to the pillow booth were ranging from young executives still in their working attire, moms, dads, youngsters. But why, why do all these people were excited to buy pillows?

Let's relate pillow to sleeping. Sleeping is a stress relive, a fatigue remedy and a place to come home to. Imagine after a long day of work, after taking kids to their school or after continuous meetings during the day, the bed - or in this case the pillow - seems like a sense of reward. What wrong it is then to satisfy yourself with a decent reward by the end of the day. Pillow seems to be a perfect, a compact enough and impulsive buy to reward yourself at the end of the day.

That was probably one of the reasons why pillows are in fact a strange enough fast moving goods.

The Stoics

A rather brave approach towards life.

Honestly

Falling is easy.
Getting up is not.

Maintaining is hard.
Starting up is not.

Doubting is easy.
Trusting is not.

Commodity Curse

We are cursed to sell commodities.

Indonesia is one of the richest countries, comprising of more than 18,000 islands, surrounded by the vast ocean and soil full of resources. I don't think we had much suffering in the past. 

This mentality continues to thrive in our people until today. When mining is just a bubble, our land suffers and the people too. We kept selling commodities to enrich ourselves today, to elevate our relatives and to abuse what's there. It just never came across us that one day, we can't live just by selling the physical. 

Ideas have become scarce, stories are gone and values diminish. Sadly, these things are undervalued in the modern days in Indonesia, where in some other places, they highly adore exploration of ideas. 

Commodities can be measured, ideas don't have boundaries.

It can't be more clear that design should begin with clarity. Your idea matters and your design's relevancy to the present days is a must.

We can sell chairs, we know that.

We make them at the factory.

And sell them overseas.

Done.

But can we compete on another level? Where it's not just about standard commodities, price and quantity that speak. We need to step it up and roll our sleeves. We can't fight on a commodity level because there are too many good talents are wasted out there. 

Förvirrat

Generally,

Wood dust will fly
Water will flow

Happiness is non-eternal
Pain will go

.

Relaxed confidence.

- Yuni Jie

Mind Your Own Trouble

The troubling thing is that everyone has their own trouble. As much as you want to help others, it really depends on how they want to carry it. Same as ourselves, no one can really help us if it's not ourselves.

The paradox of crowd loneliness. A room full of bunk bed in a hostel in Krakow. 

Sometimes, the more we talk to people, the more we feel flustered by different comments and different point of views, whereas the one who really understands the problem is solely us.

Defining Happy

Sometimes we define happiness by what we saw, what we experienced and we thought it was. But what if we have seen, experienced or thought in a different way? Do we allow other people's standard to define ours?

After talking with friends about the common wedding reception - mistakenly thought as a standard.

When you made up your mind, that is when you have to realize of the sacrifice you need to make.

And yet, life is about choosing. And believing.

To Choose

There are some funny decisions we have to make in life.

GO Search: Gorengan

In preparation for GO's next exhibition, we are doing some research at the moment through to our exhibition days. We'll be covering some interesting aspects of people's behaviour, especially those around us. These are some facts that we sometimes missed although they have always lingered around the corner. Knowing that behaviour is sometimes unconscious and done as a result of habit, it's no wonder that we seem to have missed it all along.

But first before we go to far, our gorengan template is up for grab for you to download. Enjoy.

Life is for no worries but to make changes.

In The Search of The Perfect Workplace

When coming to Ubud, I had to be sure to visit Hubud for having to see the place so many times on the net. A friend of mine was working there when I went over and introduced me around. The place was filled with 99% bule, working at their own pace, socializing, resting on the bean bags or taking their quiet time at the corner. I myself spent a few good hours getting some things done at Hubud. The vibe was very enjoyable, no doubt with a green paddy field for your relaxed viewing. 

Working on your own, remotely, freelancing, start ups (or whatever you'd like to call it) is fun. It gives you a sense of freedom, by not having to work from a cubicle and do the straight 9 to 5. The community at Hubud is to be sure very welcoming and designed to get everyone together when you wanted too, with activities (free and charged) such as gatherings, workshops, talks, etc.

Freedom and friendship are two out of three things Epicurean believed to lead someone to happiness. We've been longing for that for so long and yet the modern days seem to only provide empty promises. The same is with working at coworking spaces. Has it promised you the live you've been longing for? 

The other aspect that Epicurean proposed was to have thoughts or analyzed life. He said when you possess all of these three in balance, you will reach, what so many people are aiming for, happiness. It stroked me that working on your own does not mean everything for me while talking to Will, who own a dessert bar just next too the original Nuri's in Ubud. He blatantly said that the place gives nothing but paid internet connection. And yes, if you would like to unfold it to the very basic, it actually is just that. The same like restaurant too. 

But what is incorrect is that we thought that freelancing is the final destination of our career. At least not for me. I imagined it would be quite challenging to work on our own and still wanting to do more. Because the nature of working on our own is to enjoy whatever we do, taking our time and do whatever we want. While working on our own should actually be the reverse. It should provide us with enough time to do other things that we've always wanted to do, it should better managed our time and it should make us to think and achieve more things.

We are suffering from a severe delusion of what we want and need. That made me questioned myself, have we really understood what we really want? Has the modern world swayed us from our core?

Creative Mornings Featuring SIBLING

Loving the format of Creative Mornings. Concise, precise and uplifting for the early risers. In Melbourne, coffee and donuts were provided by Clement Coffee and photographs are supported by Mark Lobo. Venue was at Donkey Wheel House, also a house for The Hub Melbourne. Downstairs there's The School of Life to supply the early morning read. The one last week was featuring SIBLING, an architecture collective with a rather broad discipline of work from installation to experimental residential. Very concise as it was presented under 20 minutes with a quick Q&A. Definitely the format for a refreshing and eye opening morning.

Indonesia's Economy Creative Blue Print

Photo by Januar Rianto 

As a part of the creative economy, I found sometimes I am confused of what's really happening in the industry, what's our government plan, how should we act and what will happen in the near future. These questions are sometimes get drifted away and never really got asked to the relevant people.

Today was a different day for I got the honor to moderate a talk show by the Creative Economy Ministry on how we should carry our creative economy. Guest speakers include Ahmad Djuhara, Dien Wong, Calvin Kizana, Bu Cokorda Dewi, Pak Has and Mas Rofiq, names familiar in the creative subsectors in Indonesia.

A couple of problems in creative industry surfaced during the talk. Things such as the lack of qualified human resource which seems unbearable due to the high (and fast) demand in the market and the large number of graduates or productive age workers. That has been a more and more common challenges in the day to day operation of businesses here, because suddenly jobs that were not there before popped up, challenging the readiness of people to act on the opportunity.

When asked if any of the speakers have any retaining system for their workers, Pak Wong confidently said that it's fair for anyone in the creative industry to jump from one boat to another. It's only natural. Of course loyalty is expected out of the many hours of trainings and informal education at work, but it seems like creative people can't be contained under one roof for a long time.

Then, when does the government come in handy? It seems like we can't never put our hope too much or rely solely on helps not just from the government nor associations. Our job now is to act, to supply the creative industry with good works. Government then can come in the position to leverage the creative economy, said Mas Rofiq.

The ministry has prepared a blueprint for the next ten years. How relevant that would be might be a big challenge, but nevertheless as practitioners in the creative industry, it's everyone's task to have a standard, to work at our best and not to complain too much about what others can do for us. Rather, prove that you can do it too.

Mau Dibawa Kemana Ekonomi Kreatif Indonesia

Will be moderating this Sunday's talkshow by the Creative Economy Ministry. Starting at 4pm, practitioners in animation, design, architecture, games, IT and R&D will share their thoughts and discuss about how we should carry our creative economy. Especially important due to the government transition soon and definitely relevant for you working in the creative industry. So I'll see you at Galeri Fatahillah, Kota Tua tomorrow!

Mata-Mata Rakyat

Jadi ikutan bicara karena kayanya penting banget sih! Be smart on making your decision, lihatlah siapa yang menjadi kaki tangan rakyat dan siapa yang adalah kaki tangan mafia. Pay attention to what they said, udah ngga jaman kita masih dicekokin janji-janji, kita mau bukti yang real! Yang paling penting, gue sih mau pilih orang yang akan membebaskan kita untuk berkarya dan menyatakan pendapat, bukan malah kembali ke oppression era. Selamat memilih dan selamat berkarya, jadilah mata-mata rakyat yang cerdas!

Know Your Leader

There is something rather romantic about being able to relate with someone so far yet so close to you. Perhaps it is like a long distance relationship, that you sometimes can't talk directly to that person, but you just know it, you know exactly that you share the same values.

It's been quite a long time, I think, that we have not heard people who are making so much sense, that we are now in the euphoric state of joy, simply because we are able to relate to our leaders. It's that bad and we've been craving it for so long. The absence has been too long that a glimpse of hope seems very warming now. 

Being able to choose a leader is quite a privilege. Out of the so many opportunities, perhaps we have not been able to utilize it as much as we could. Rather astounding it is, to see how such leader can move so many people to speak up, to be bold and and to vote. It has come the time when being a follower is uncool and to step up doesn't make you a fool. 

To be honest, I'm bought by all the movement, the color tone, the illustration and the imagery of such leader. Can't deny that I felt that this leader is very relevant to me and it triggered me to trust that person. Simply because of the relevancy, knowledge of the present problems, the authenticity and the willingness to make a change, are the reasons why I've made up my mind. 

Just like in a relationship, I want to be in an adventure with whoever that is. However bumpy the road is, the notion that all of us might make mistakes sometimes, yet the optimism that we can be better is at times enough to push me a bit further. I hope when we're making a decision to help someone to reach the goal, we are at a realistic state that everyone is human. Put your hope at a measured optimism and keep in mind that it's about us doing it together. Don't get lazy and wish someone will do it for you. You, you are the one has to do it for the country.

Our chance to make a difference comes in 4 days, be wise and stay conscience!

#gerakcepat

The Nostalgic Feeling

I found myself having trouble sleeping at night. It seemed like my mind keeps running at my midday pace and wouldn't stop though the dusk has passed. 

This was a nostalgic feeling occurred to me at some circumstances:
- Have been working too much
- At a precarious state
- Having not done enough things
Somehow this feeling was not a stranger to me. 

One day when I was in Hildesheim, I felt that I was so lonely although so many people surrounded me. 

"It is lonely when you're among people, too,"
- The Little Prince

I jumped straight on to the train heading to Hannover, about 20 minutes on the S4. Once arrived at the Hauptbahnhof, the first errand was to grab a hot brezel from Ditsch, something that always warm the heart. After walking few kilos into the city, I would, surprisingly head to Starbucks at one of the malls near the station. I wouldn't go to Starbucks if I were in Melbourne, but something inside of me made me excited that I was going there. 


It was about the familiarity that I chose to come to Starbucks. Not about the coffee, not about the interior, not about the food. It was merely because I missed the feeling of being somewhere I'm familiar with and having no need to adapt one more time. That was I think one reason why Starbucks have won so many of our hearts. It was about the convenience, the consistency and the trust that we could come back for so many times and it would still be the Starbucks we know. 

A lot of touch points went into consideration when building such brand to evoke the nostalgic feeling, the needy feeling and the attachment. These include smell, taste, look, feel, atmosphere, noise and so much more. Building a brand required a lot of humanity and a lot of consideration to make it a successful one. And through times, improvement is the core of any brand to strive and to stay relevant. 

In the end, the nostalgic feeling is what we're craving for.

A social yet personal environment between one's house and job, where people can connect with others and reconnect with themselves.

- p.13, Onward, Howard Schultz

Poetic Bromo

I definitely am more of a mountain person than a sea one, I found places like mountains are poetic in their own ways. And oh very beautiful Indonesia is, with just some hours spent on the road and budget trip on the mission. When the chance to get away from the city on the weekend, we got to do so. 

(Photos were taken with iPhone)

Last weekend, friends and I planned a trip to Bromo. Catching the sunrise was one thrilling journey through the savanna in the dark of dawn, getting up to Pananjakan and arriving there with so many others. But I got to tell you, the view was breathtaking. It was unlike I have seen before in Indonesia, knowing that mostly I have lived a city live and only going out to the nature once in a while. This reassured me that I got to go see more of Indonesia. The low fog summed up the pretty picture, consisting of rows of mountains and greeneries throughout our eyesight. We took a deep breath to fully felt the majestic mother nature and just enjoyed the moment being. 

(Ngadisari, Indonesia not Healesville, Australia)

Lastly, Jazz Gunung perfectly captured the beauty of jazz and the sound of nature with the beautiful mountainous sunset as the background. So much of me were surprised to know how much I have not seen in Indonesia and how Indonesia really possess the charm. Definitely weekend well spent, a perfect getaway from work and a worthwhile experience spent with friends.

Falling In Love

I was rather astounded to find myself falling in love with a painting. Never before that I can truly connect with such fine things or maybe I haven't acquired the taste. However this on got me on the spot.

This is not mine (yet!!!) as I found it on my trip around Kemang to look up for things for my project. No, this one does not suit my project no. My friend and I stopped by at Gudang Gambar, where we were welcomed warmly by the owner. When I looked around this caught my eyes.

Photo courtesy of artist and Gudang Gambar.

A painting by an artist in Shanghai depicting the grandeur Huangshan mountains in Eastern China.

There was just an enough amount of dexterity, decent amount of abstraction and a warm feeling conveyed through the adjacent layers of interpreted peaks and bases. There was such depth on a bare plain surface.

If there was one success matrix that I would choose, it would be the freedom to appreciate other's body of work at ease. I want to buy the painting.