Designer Harry Darsono turns home into museum<\/p>\n
By Mehru Jaffer<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): A few years ago, a short circuit caused a
\nterrible fire in the South Jakarta home of fashion designer Harry
\nDarsono. Many a precious possession was destroyed as the walls of
\nthe building caved in.<\/p>\n
But in the midst of the ruins the eclectic designer discovered
\nhis entire collection of costumes peeping out of the debris. When
\nhe pulled the costumes out, some designed as long ago as 30
\nyears, he found that not a stitch was singed.<\/p>\n
For Harry the experience was like an omen.<\/p>\n
He began immediately to rebuild the house with a grand marble
\nstaircase snaking up to the second floor, topped with a Saracenic
\nbaroque dome and in a style also inspired by Moorish Spain. This
\nwas to be a temple dedicated to crafts like embroidery and
\ntailoring.<\/p>\n
\"I want to share everything with everyone. I don't want to
\nlock away anything and leave it in the storeroom anymore,\" Harry
\ntold The Jakarta Post on the eve of his 51st birthday on March
\n15, that was celebrated as a thanksgiving gathering. His museum
\nof textile design and contemporary costumes is still under
\nconstruction but already open to the public.<\/p>\n
Of course, the main exhibits are colorful examples of costumes
\ndesigned and embroidered by Harry from way back in the 1970s to
\nhis latest creations. But to visit the museum is also to be
\ntransported back into time to the Italian Renaissance when
\nEuropean societies were not just a repository of tradition but
\nalso centers of innovation. What excites Harry about everything
\nbaroque is the grandeur involved in all aspects of creative
\nactivity of that period.<\/p>\n
The museum is an attempt to create a certain mood imbued with
\na certain attitude.<\/p>\n
The front door opens out onto a reddish-brown, marble floor
\nengraved in black with HDC for Harry Darsono Couture. The hallway
\nis a cluster of mirrors, lights, carpets and hundreds of
\nartifacts. Bach is in the air as the ground floor comes into view
\nand also a classical painting of Harry depicted as an angel on a
\npiano as a number of other cherubic faced angels flutter around
\nin adoration.<\/p>\n
The area is crowded with period furniture and mirrors framed
\nin gold, providing a stunning background to black mannequins in
\nthe image of Moors that stand at every nook and cranny. They are
\ndraped in beads, silk, satin and stunning head dresses while more
\ncostumes in organza and organdy hang in other rooms in wardrobes
\nthat have their doors wide open.<\/p>\n
Tables are laden with gigantic candelabras flickering
\nmysterious shadows on delicately designed pieces of porcelain
\nalso by Harry. There is embroidery on cushions, handbags and wall
\nhangings. On the first floor, long tables are strewn with
\npatterns, cloth, beads and threads in every possible color with
\nabout half a dozen youngsters busy at work. Harry has taught more
\nthan 4,000 people, in Indonesia and around the world, the art of
\nboth simple and intricate embroidery.<\/p>\n
To continue learning, Harry travels far and wide within the
\ncountry to bring back the craft of the Minangkabau of West
\nSumatra and North Sulawesi, where the age-old techniques of tikam
\njejak (heavy needlework) and kerawang (open needlework) are still
\nused. Then there is the patchwork technique made into beautiful
\njackets and skirts, inspired by elderly ladies in traditional
\nsocieties who had little better to do but to sew together
\ndifferent types of leftover cloth into a blanket or a bed cover.
\nThe idea is not to return to the past but to learn from it even
\nas people continue to evolve and to add to all the beauty already
\ncreated before.<\/p>\n
Creations<\/p>\n
Harry donated one of his creations to the National Museum of
\nTextiles here but as far as he knows it has not been displayed.
\nThat is another reason why he has converted his home into a
\nmuseum. It is to introduce to people here as well as to those in
\nthe rest of the world to innovations taking place in contemporary
\nIndonesia in the field of arts, handicrafts and other arts. On
\nthe second floor, adjoining a terrace garden, he has carved out a
\ncozy niche for regularly scheduled classical music soirees with
\nguest performers from here and abroad.<\/p>\n
What he is unable to do is to design clothes and produce them
\nin bulk. Since individuals are unique, he prefers to think of a
\ndifferent design for different people. The result is that no
\n\"Darsono\" design can be found duplicated anywhere.<\/p>\n
Walking behind Harry as he played museum tour guide, it was
\ndifficult to believe that a child who was dyslexic and suffered
\nfrom attention deficiency disorder has blossomed into a
\nrenaissance man of such style and fine demeanor.<\/p>\n
The fifth child of eight in his family, Harry was once forced
\nto change schools six times in one year in Surabaya, the capital
\nof East Java where he spent his early childhood.<\/p>\n
Concerned at his abominable behavior and lack of interest in
\nreading or writing, Harry's parents packed him off to a boarding
\nschool in Paris when he was 9. Later he moved to England where he
\nstudied clothing technology at the London College of Fashion and
\nat the London Film and Television Academy for Stage Production.<\/p>\n
He is lucky to have been surrounded by adults who did not
\ndemoralize him but helped him to find his mooring in life. For it
\nis the arts that inspire Harry most today -- \"I'm still very
\nhyper but not aggressive\" -- and he works tirelessly to help
\nothers find out what they really wish to do by offering lessons
\nin embroidery. It is just in case someone like the young Harry is
\nalso interested in sewing up a costume or two -- and, into the
\nbargain, hemming together their life.<\/p>\n
Museum Harry Darsono, Jl. Cilandak Tengah 1\/71, South Jakarta.
\nViewings by appointment (tel. 7668553).<\/p>",
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