Indonesia

having access to unlimited information. They could help assist craftsmen in improving
their products in order to fulfill demands from contemporary market and the whole
system around it (i.e. distribution, promotion, contract, management, etc.). This,
however, will work only when the industrial designers are capable of recognizing local
potentials, making correct analysis towards the products and applying technology
that is appropriate for the local conditions.
Prior to the afore mentioned conditions, formal education in industrial design is
pioneered by teaching staffs of the Faculty of Arts and Design ITB who originally
learned to be drawing/painting teachers. They were sent abroad, mostly to the United
States, to learn about industrial design and to apply the knowledge in Indonesia.
However, the basic of the knowledge mostly come from Western (American and
European) cultures, along with their ideologies, which are being taught to industrial
design students already for about thirty years. As a consequence, up to recent times,
graduates of industrial design are lack of knowledge concerning Indonesia’s own
material resources, artifacts and traditional production systems. This point is what
makes it difficult for designers to start intervening the home industries such as the
ones mentioned beforehand. Realizing the disadvantages, current industrial design
students are given materials about local contents as well, which has broadened the
viewpoints of new graduates.
INDONESIAN DESIGN PARADIGM
Design development in many parts of the world has shown significant progress,
especially due to the innovation of advanced technology and material inventions,
along with development of design concepts and philosophies. As a consequence,
designs that were created in the 20th century, which used to retain ornamental
appearances, gradually appeared in simpler forms and in more efficient, practical,
durable and affordable conditions. The 20th century is also known as an era of
competition, therefore manufacture industries started to recognize the role of design
in capturing and creating (new) markets.
Design products have also embedded in our daily lives and have become our routine
needs, such as houses, cars, television sets, chairs, wristwatch, etc. Questions concerning
the competitive capability of Indonesian design raise, especially considering the fact
that Indonesia has an abundance of human, natural and cultural resources, and a
strategic geo-political position. In this context, design is not merely applied to the
quantitative value of a particular product, but as a media that represents the level of
civilization of its country of origin. Considering that matter, design needs to have the
following basis, which should work as a compact system and a total process:
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National awareness towards design
Natural and human resources
Technology and industry
Strategy and policy from a national design council
CREATIVE & INNOVATION INDONESIA
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