Numerous places around Indonesia are able to sustain the production of its unique traditional handwoven textile, thanks to the growing appreciation recently of ‘modern ethnicity’ and ‘popular traditional’ style.
Daughter of Klaten goes with the Woven Craft term as a practical way to explain craft produced with wholly or partially traditional handwoven textile material. Promoting traditional handwoven textile based craft is a journey to change the market perception on ‘social conscious product’ where we should be able maintaining competitiveness of the added value with uniqueness, creativity and innovation among other thousand commercial items.
With this small window of exploration, Daughter of Klaten loves to invite many interested ones to take a look on the beauty as well as source of opportunity which can come together from Indonesia traditional handwoven textile.
Gathered as personal recollection from any available public expose and reference, in this part we can easily experience the work, the touch and the creation has come from the Indonesia traditional handwoven textile.
Igniting passion to your life and your business
Klaten is a district in Central Java Province, Indonesia. A place where my mother was born and raised before she left home pursuing nurse education that became her lifetime profession. Her hard work for me and my three other siblings always inspired me not to easily give up whilegrowing up together with Daughter of Klaten.
Klaten is also the place where I had my very last 9 to 5 job as team leader for a recovery program for the affected area and survivor of earthquake badly hit Central Java and Yogyakarta on June 2006. While based in Klaten, I met a woman group in their initial years of developing a business unit to promote handicraft. Their approach and potential enable me to develop a business model as fulltime mom taking care my son channeling my passion into business.
Social Entrepreneurship
Equipped with experience of working in the non-profit sector, Daughter of Klaten social entrepreneurship approach is part of awareness and participation to solve community problem, and conscious strategy to place a creation, a product into market mechanism. Daughter of Klaten always try to tap woman artisan, woman entrepreneur and woman group through out products value chain. Creatively, the design originality and material selection serve the function to promote environmental protection. Most of all, the identity of combining different traditional hand woven cloth has emerged as outstanding Indonesia cultural heritage promotion. Settled back to Greater Jakarta in mid 2013, Daughter of Klaten attempts to extend domestic market by increasing cooperation with points of sale around the area.
Working with women
It is empowering their potential by working with women individually or group and to support their household independence. Business model and way of work accomplished thanks to Sisterhood of LAWE woman group based in Yogyakarta, with established network of weavers, sewers and craft artisan who mostly women. Partnership builds as well with several community groups organizing recycling household waste around Yogyakarta through hard work of a woman, a community facilitator. Her name becomes a name of Daughter of Klaten item, Lestari bag.
Cultural heritage promotion and environmental protection
Lurik, Endek and Ikat are all Indonesia cultural heritage deserve better appreciation from Indonesia people. The many population and economic growth especially in urban setting shall become potential market for social conscious product. Santi bag uses wooden handle obtained from Mitra Bali and APIKRI Yogyakarta with ‘sustainable timber’ program. Daughter of Klaten own two models of shopping bag designed to replace plastic bag.
Innovation
Excellence is not only in product design, quality of craftsmanship and other details, but also from the ingenuity to deliver uniqueness compare to other crafts. Daughter of Klaten creates a set of bag and yoga mat influenced by popular trend. Next is soft storage, can be folded to keep various goods. In material selection, aside from recycled material Daughter of Klaten tries jute, waste of vinyl banner and Batik garment.
‘You Your Work Your Product’
Experience developing one person home-based business spawned enthusiasm of sharing practical learning model to inspire other women microenterprises under the framework of ‘You Your Work Your Product’. This concept refers to the expectations of any business effort to achieve growth and sustainability.
