Teak Wood Mirror

Artisan Organization: Jajak

Country: Java

"For me, there is no such thing as a difficult moment. I believe a difficult moment is a challenge that has to be faced – it might even be useful to others. Loving others is the main key in our behavior. Working is also essential, because it will bring positive effects that will support the success of my life.

"My name is Jajak Suryo Putro and I am Javanese. I graduated from the Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Management and I live with my beloved wife and my two daughters. We live in a small sub-district east of Yogyakarta, a strategic place since it is located between two cities of great culture, Jogja and Solo, renowned for their rich artistry, crafts and furniture. Jogja is a very romantic city with great architecture and environment, as well as with a sense of community and cultural traditions. The splendor of Prambanan Hindu temple makes me proud to live in peace and in the sanctity of life."

"Friends describe me as an easygoing person, always willing to help out others, wise, temperamental and spontaneous. Actually I am just an ordinary person who has flaws and often make mistakes, sometimes very silly and stupid ones. My moment of greatest serenity and peace came when my beautiful daughter was born after waiting for eight years. And now my biggest challenge is to evaluate and prepare a good plan for a better life for my daughters.

"I like adventures in the forest and the sea, which makes me participate in the 'Save the Earth' movement, and has inspired me to manage my workshop with the Save the Earth philosophy.

"Being a father is very different than before. Every time I hold my daughters it summons a promise in my mind: these children must grow up to be useful people, so I have to think carefully about their future. Education and health is the main thing they should have, so I studied more about children and psychology.

"I'm a self-taught artist, I learn by seeing, reading and trying. I started learning batik and then about the character and structure of woods as material. I think wood is the best material when combined with batik.

"For me, the final product results from a combination of artistic skills, knowledge of crafting process, the achievement of the function, and the standard of quality that leads to competitive prices. Good handcrafted items are products that can be appreciated for being beautiful and having a proper function, for being of high quality and for being accepted by consumers with an appropriate price.

"I work with many different materials depending on the design like wood, leather, metal, rattan, woven natural materials and stones. These materials are easy to find and they can be transformed into good and nice products. I also design pieces that only require simple tools and not need special machines.

"We create products that contain the value of the old culture with the materials classified as environmentally friendly and very easy to find just around us. We have a certified management system and our art products are always packaged carefully with consideration to product safety, and from legal sources, as well as function, art and quality.

"The green production concept has led us to perform the right production processes efficiently. Recycled materials or materials that can be recycled are requirements for making our products. We are already certified with multiple system certifications that require us to give input to the production of materials that can be justified both in terms of the legality and sustainability. For example, we use recycled paper as packing material, we use a water based finishing system, and do not use wood from areas that have not been managed well for our production input.

"We have received several appreciations like Managing the Production of Art, and many awards in management systems. For example, we received an appreciation from the U.S. Government through USAID for management development; World Bank through management development programs through the IFC Pensa program, and from the United Kingdom Government through the MFP program.

"Through this association with Novica I hope the international exposure of my products will improve.""