In a small workshop in Denpasar, Bali, workers are busy gluing together shards of glass to create candle sets. Pieces of old, broken glass are stacked against the workshop wall.
Lukman is a craftsman…
In a small workshop in Denpasar, Bali, workers are busy gluing together shards of glass to create candle sets. Pieces of old, broken glass are stacked against the workshop wall. Lukman is a craftsman, albeit with a degree in economics, who came up with the creative idea of making objects out of detritus that usually ends in the garbage, an idea he said that came after meeting an Italian man in Bali years ago. At first Lukman was just helping the Italian, who owns a store in the island, to run his business. “The Italian produces ornaments from pieces of broken glass. I just developed the idea into creating ornaments from slices of glass. It is now safer for my workers and the product becomes neater”, Lukman told The Jakarta Post on 9 April 2008. He decided in 1997 to set up his own business by recruiting people from his wife“s village in Java and from his hometown in Madura. Most of Lukman“s products are made from used glass he sources from a collector with whom he has collaborated for years. He acknowledged that many of the designs for his products are not his own, as he accepts commissions from customers to make special designs. But when it does come to his own designs, he said new ideas were everywhere. “Every time I go somewhere, I always notice the designs of the lamps or other decor in the room or house, and I always imagine how would they look if I used glass as their basic material”, he said. The design business, however, is not without its risks: “Sometimes I get fed up with creating new designs, though, because other producers can copy them so easily”. He said he did not register his designs because he could not guarantee how long a design would last in the market. Patenting a design is costly and the revenue generated by the design might not cover the cost registration. “Design of ornaments and decor is very dynamic. If I patented a design it would probably no longer be saleable within couple of months”, he said. The need to avoid copyright has curbed his market expansion, because it means he rarely participates in exhibitions. “There is a greater risk our designs will be copied if we show our work at exhibitions”, he said. Instead, he is expanding his market through his family members: “My sister happened to marry a German guy and she is now looking for a chance to open a shop there”, he said. He currently supplies items to furniture shops in Japan, France and Australia, allowing him to provide jobs for at least 14 people in the workshop beside his house. “My products now are not limited only to lamps or candle sets but we also make other ornaments and furniture such as bar tables”, Lukman said. His products have also been used in one of Jakarta“s famous cafes and in a new hotel in Semarang, Central Java.