Name: Adhi Nugraha

Location: Lembang District, Bandung Regency

Specialist materials:Rattan

Products: Homeware

Mr.Adhi Nugraha experimented with natural materials such as coconut shells and bamboo to make crafts. Having lived in Finland—where bamboo is rarely used—Mr.Adhi is interested in exploring bamboo further. In 2012, Mr.Adhi returned to Indonesia and continued his experiments with bamboo. Besides bamboo, which is available in large quantities, there is also a lot of rattan in Indonesia. Mr.Adhi also begins to use rattan to make his works. His first major project was to build a house from bamboo which is now becomes his studio or workshop in the Open Land Village (Kampung Buka Tanah) area. Mr.Adhi usually gets the raw material from the villages around the workshop, where bamboos grow wild on vacant lands. Because the crafts made are usually not in large quantities, only a small amount of bamboo is needed. Usually, bamboo is cut from one tree without removing the stump, leaving young bamboos to grow again. Good bamboos that are sought are usually 5-year-old bamboo. They are then stored in a warehouse or barn to dry. Rattan material is rarely found in Bandung area so Mr.Adhi usually buys it in Cirebon. Rattan is a wild plant that lives with dependence on other plants. When rattan is left to grow wild, it will surely damage its host. Mr.Adhi is interested to explore rattan further. Moreover, rattan is still rarely used for contemporary designs. The method of making rattan products still uses traditional tools and techniques. Therefore, Mr. Adhi, brought the craftsmen from Subang who are familiar with the traditional tools and techniques. Waste from rattan in the form of powder is usually burned, while bamboo waste is used as a composite material. Mr.Adhi's goal of working with bamboo is to return the bamboo culture as local wisdom to the community. "I want to prove to the public that bamboo is a material that is original from Indonesia and that it is sustainable," said Mr.Adhi. However, in making his products, Mr.Adhi always combines modern and traditional techniques. The combination of traditional natural materials and more modern materials—such as iron and dyes—can add to the aesthetics and selling value of the crafts made. He shared this knowledge with nine of his employees. They are people who live around the workshop.