For Swiss designers Thomas Wuethrich and Yves Raschle, furniture is much more than a collection of practical objects — its design can make a statement on environmental responsibility.
Attracted by Indonesia’s quality wood, the creative pair wanted to find out how best to incorporate the product into their pieces while maintaining an ecological balance.
In 2004, after extensively researching the country and its resources, the pair founded INCH — IN standing for Indonesia and CH for Switzerland’s formal name, Confoederatio Helvetica — a sustainable furniture label offering a combination of contemporary European design with eco-friendly materials sourced from Indonesia.
Speaking at a Design Talk presentation, ahead of INCH’s exhibition launch at Dia.lo.gue Artspace in Kemang, South Jakarta, Wuethrich explained his brand’s inspiration.
“Wood, for us, means solid wood. Design we also understand as research,” he said. “We are concerned about the process at INCH, it’s not only the finished product that interests us. The social and ecological circumstances from the wood supply up to the production are an important part of the creation of our furniture.”
During their long stay in Indonesia, Wuethrich and Raschle came across the carpentry and woodwork school PIKA (Pendidikan Industri Kayu Atas), a vocational school for industrial woodwork in Semarang, Central Java.
This meeting evolved into a successful collaboration eventually seeing INCH produce its furniture in the PIKA carpentry workshop while maintaining the school’s training programs. PIKA produces INCH’s furniture, and in return, Wuethrich and Raschle organize workshops and seminars there.
“It’s not about whose idea [this was] and who’s the maker of great products. But the collaboration is more important,” Wuethrich explained.
Today, PIKA trains about 75 apprentices each year as carpenters, draftsmen and furniture designers.
Headed by competent specialists and equipped with a modern machine outfit, the workshop is held in high regard throughout Indonesia and ranks among the best in the country.
But despite having access to a large production team, the operation keeps its collection deliberately small in order to control and develop new ideas, Wuethrich explained. This, he said, also allows them to focus on the quality of their products.
All INCH products are made from teak. Unlike timber from old-growth forests, teak is predominantly cultivated in plantations, many of which are managed sustainably. “We obtain our timber from Perum Perhutani, a forestry enterprise in the vicinity of our production site,” Wuethrich said.
He added that Perum Perhutani maintains 1.8 million hectares of forest, cultivated according to sustainable standards, and that as a result, the forest will be preserved for subsequent generations.
According to Wuethrich , sustainable furniture is not only about ecology but also about the design itself. A good example is INCH’s Shanghai Chair, which was designed to be used by anyone. Both adults and children can feel comfortable lounging in its embrace.
“We make comfortable and durable products with an innovative design,” Wuethrich said.
Paying homage to INCH’s Indonesian influences, the designers have used Indonesian and Javanese terms to name some of the brand’s pieces. Some of their chairs and tables, for example, are named Delapan (“eight” in Indonesian), Sembilan (“nine” in Indonesian), Loro (“two” in Javanese) and Papat (“four” in Javanese).
Joining Wuethrich and Raschle as a speaker at Design Talk was Singgih Kartono, an Indonesian designer who is also very passionate about ecology and eco-products.
The founder of Magno products who hails from Kandangan, Central Java, is also inspired by quality wood.
One of Singgih’s well-known designs is his simple AM-FM wooden radio.
“All my designs have simple details with imperfect and incomplete finishing, because I want to create a connection between the user and the product,” Singgih explained.
“Products talk to us in a certain language. The products that we use often will be more comfortable for us, that’s the communication. Actually the idea of all my eco-products is to offer a more personal treatment to the user. Natural materials are also meant to [encourage a renewed] sense of nature.”
Like the INCH designers, Singgih has also learned a lesson from wood. For him, wood can teach people three things: life, balance and limit.
Through wood, we can see the process of life, he said: When we cut the timber we see a record of the tree’s life through age lines. Through wood, we can learn the importance of balance: There are heavy, light, rough and smooth elements to wood, but they are still in a strong unity.
And we can also learn about limits. “It’s really important for the designer to say, ‘Enough!’ Stop when we think that our design is too much. Stop when our product kills the creativity of users,” Singgih explained.
The designer admitted that he was disappointed with the fast growth of technology, as he believes it makes people care less about their environment, leading to a lack of design appreciation.
That’s why Singgih asks the people of Kandangan to replant their forest. “When we buy wood we have a transaction with two parties. They are the supplier and nature. So we have to give to nature as well,” he said.
INCH Furniture Exhibition
Source :
The Jakarta Globe
Topic: The Many Lessons of Wood in Design (Read 3596 times)
