The Instrument in the Designing Process

Figure 5. A mood board (source: Author).

On the mood board, Radit showed the interiors of a living room and a bedroom to Mrs. Sumiarti and other members of Rizki Kelipuk group. He explained to the craftswomen about the targeted customers, who were mainly middle-income Europeans. Based on the information from the Stylus and the CBI, Radit explained the behaviors of the targeted users, as well as their daily activities. On the other side, Mrs. Sumiarti provided many insights about the character of the materials, the skills and techniques that might be suitable to achieve the new form of the product, and the tools available in their workshop.

The third meeting was mostly on discussing and evaluating the prototyping process. It was quite fascinating to see the discussion between the designer and the craftswomen, especially how informal and open the discussion between them was (Figure 6). Radit, the other

accompanying staff from the designer center and the city hall, the members of Rizki Kelipuk, and I mostly discussed trivial topics, while at the same time checking the prototypes of some products. Sometimes Radit asked about the progress of Mrs. Sumiarti’s work. The craftswomen confessed that they felt it quite challenging to work on the new design, because it was different

than the products they usually developed, such as small pouches and bags. As Mrs. Sumiarti stated:

At first, the other members and I were not sure how to complete the new design. But I tried to always negotiate with Radit about the difficult parts of the design, and then, Radit always cooperated and provided new designs or solutions.

When Radit looked at the new design of the stools made of water hyacinth and wood as a structure, he seemed unsatisfied with the result. For instance, one product was not precisely circular, and this was because the mold the craftswomen utilized was a used tire. Another example was the leg of a stool, for which the wooden materials seemed unmatched with the design. During the discussion between Radit and Mrs. Sumiarti on how to solve this problem, another person in the workshop told them that she had a relative who was a logger, and that her relative might help to provide the best quality of teak wood, which may be suitable for the stool.

They accepted the offer, and Radit trusted the group of craftswomen to organize the production of wood, without interfering further about the provision of wood itself. The interesting point here is that the surrounding people could freely offer ideas, although they were not part of this project.

Figure 6. The discussion between the designer and a craftswoman (source: Author).

A similar situation occurred in the meeting of Radit and Mrs. Yanti to discuss in detail the design and work progress of the apron and the oven mitt. Mrs. Yanti had already made a prototype of the design that Radit had ordered months ago. The pastel and gloomy colors and the leaves’ patterns on the apron and the oven mitt were quite suitable for them, considering the target market in Europe for a particular season. However, the design of the apron itself was not comfortable when someone tried to use it, especially the back straps. The problem was likely caused by the difficulty of measuring the size of the apron. When Mrs. Yanti saw that I was quite tall (more than 180 cm), she asked me to wear the apron, and apparently, she and Radit realized that the apron was oversized. Looking at this problem she stated: “When I was making this apron, no one was the same height as European people. I was struggling to imagine and measure the size of this apron.” Looking at this situation, Radit discussed this problem in detail with Mrs. Yanti, and they attempted to solve it. As in the workshop with Rizki Kelipuk, various people also offered suggestions, including me.

As the meeting time during the program was quite limited, Radit and the craftswomen could actively discuss and follow up on progress through a messenger application. They sent pictures and drawings via e-mails or messenger applications if necessary. Mrs. Sumiarti

explained to me that “Although we rarely met directly, we still can communicate with each other through online applications. Some of the drawings here were sent through e-mails by Radit.”

Another problem that Radit faced was the limited workshop in the village. For instance, the women had few power tools or hand tools to support production in their workshop. In a stool that Radit designed, the shape of cushion that used water hyacinth was circular. However, as the workshop did not have any mold, and the craftswomen could not afford to order one, they tinkered with a truck tire as a mold for the cushion. As a consequence, the circular shape was not accurate and the volume of the cushion itself was rather smaller than the design drawing.

Looking at this situation, Radit said to Mrs. Sumiarti: “It does not need to be perfectly akin to the drawing. But can you add more water hyacinth by knitting it around this shape, just to add more volume?”

Mrs. Sumiarti replied, “Sure, we can knit it downward and probably add more foam to the cushion.” Radit agreed with this idea, and he did not push them further to achieve the desired design. Considering the limited tools and skills the craftswomen have has forced Radit to think about the kinds of new designs that fit the market, but that are also suitable for the condition and tradition of the craft workshop. Radit and the craftsmen must overcome these impeding factors every time a new design comes.

The designer and the craftswoman wrote down their progress in every meeting evaluation in the form of progress reports they filled in (see Figure 7). Despite their informal working environment, they had to follow up the targets they set up on the form the design center provided. The supervisors in the design center made this form as a template to monitor the

progress of the participants of this program. Moreover, this form became a tool for both designer and craftswoman to complete their progress and to follow up each other’s tasks.

Figure 7. The design progress report (source: Author).

In sum, the case of Radit, Rizki Klipuk, and Mrs. Yanti reflects important aspects of understanding the role of instruments in their work, such as meeting organizations, trend forecasting media, the mood board, and the design progress report that helps them to resolve their differences, set targets, and achieve targets collaboratively. For instance, the mood board could trigger the conversation between them and help them to acquire information on the behavior and habits of the target market. It could help them to imagine the future placement of the product. It enabled them to set the key points for the designers to start the design process.

Along with that, the informal environment in the craft workshop smoothed the discussion process between them, which involved openness between neighbors, and flexibility and fluidity in the working process, such as freely involving neighbors in the talks. Additionally, the

communications technology, such as the messenger application, has contributed to the success of the prototyping process. This technology has also helped them to reduce the distance and to limit the number of face-to-face meetings with the design center. They can easily communicate their progress by sending pictures of their work, and they can discuss them in real time using the application. The informality in the craft workshop is also a building block of the collaborative work between crafters and designers. This is in line with the arguments by Turner (2003), which explained that the informal and flexibility among the neighbors in the village largely facilitated the characteristics of small entrepreneurs. Through the informal realm and the flexibility of the craft workshop, unexpected ideas often came from surrounding people who were not fully involved in the project.

Despite the information on market needs and the new designs, which mostly come from designers, information on material availability, skill and techniques, and the production process is mainly the domain of the crafters. Throughout constant negotiation, both face-to-face and virtual interaction, such as e-mails or messenger, ideas to solve problems can appear any time they interact. This condition might reflect the current situation of craft and design practice, in that beside the informality of craft enterprise, the ability to adopt technological instruments to their daily work can also have a significant impact on the process of designing and the

production process.