Famous Ciputat antique showcase began small<\/p>\n
By Edith Hartanto<\/p>\n
Antique dealers on Jl. Ciputat Raya are holding a month-long
\nfair to fete Indonesia's 52nd independence anniversary. The
\nJakarta Post talks to dealers about the ups and downs of the
\nantique business, and about how this high street on the outskirts
\nof South Jakarta became famous as the place to purchase objects
\nof the past.<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Pelikan was once the lone antique shop on Jl.
\nCiputat Raya. Today, with more dealers lured by the promise of
\nprofits, more than 100 of the stores crowd the high street
\nleading to Parung and Bogor.<\/p>\n
Although Ciputat Raya is still associated with tiny antique
\nshops and galleries, the street now bustles with supermarkets,
\ndepartment stores and car showrooms.<\/p>\n
At first glance, it is hard to envisage why antique dealers
\nchose this street as their showcase in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
That is until one meets Nasrun, 55, the former owner of
\nPelikan who pioneered the relocation of antique dealers from
\ntheir main haunts in Jl. Sabang, Jl. Kebon Sirih and Jl.
\nSurabaya, all in Central Jakarta, to Ciputat Raya in the 1980s.<\/p>\n
Nasrun, who started out in the 1960s by peddling his antiques
\nby bicycle to mostly foreign customers, says rapid development of
\nJl. Sabang with offices, department stores and restaurants almost
\npushed him out of the business altogether.<\/p>\n
That, and the fact that many of his clients died between 1970
\nand 1980. "I had a hard time finding new buyers," he confessed.<\/p>\n
Nasrun set up the Pelikan on a 100-square meter plot which is
\nnow the site of Situ Gintung, a restaurant and swimming pool
\nproperty.<\/p>\n
In 1980, Ciputat land prices were going for between Rp 30,000
\nand Rp 50,000 per square meter. Today, the rate is probably 10
\ntimes as much.<\/p>\n
"It was still affordable then. We gathered money, bought the
\nland and, using our own developer, who happened to be a relative,
\ndeveloped four shops with other members of the family," he said.<\/p>\n
Getting other antique dealers from Jl. Sabang, Jl. Kebon Sirih
\nand Jl. Surabaya to move was not as easy.<\/p>\n
Like Nasrun, most antique dealers in Jakarta come from the
\ntiny village of Sarik in Bukittinggi. Most of the shops on Jl.
\nCiputat Raya are owned by people from this village at the foot of
\nMt. Merapi in West Sumatra. Most of them are related.<\/p>\n
Budi Santosa, Nasrun's eldest child who runs one of the family
\ngalleries named after him, recalls the arduous task entailed in
\nconvincing others to follow their move south.<\/p>\n
"They were reluctant to move because they were afraid they
\ncould lose their business.<\/p>\n
"Once our shops were opened and we started getting business
\nour way, they came in throngs and opened shops and galleries
\nhere," Budi said.<\/p>\n
"That's typical of Sarik people. Never want to lose a dime,"
\nNasrun chimed in.<\/p>\n
At last count, there were 105 antique dealers and galleries
\nalong Jl. Ciputat Raya, including the two-story shop that Nasrun
\nruns.<\/p>\n
His three adult children are also in the business.<\/p>\n
Budi and the more established shop owners do not appear to
\nfeel threatened by the many competitors in the neighborhood.<\/p>\n
"I'm doing fine. I have my regular buyers," Budi said.<\/p>\n
The concentration of antique shops in one area actually
\nappears to have bolstered their business.<\/p>\n
"Many shops export at least 10 container trucks filled with
\nantiques each month to various places around the world," Budi
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Nasrun, his view tinged by the wariness of age, did not share
\nhis son's optimism.<\/p>\n
"The antique business, in the real sense of the word, is
\ndying," he said.<\/p>\n
"Now, most people sell so-called art, but not real antiques,"
\nhe added, citing the Jepara furniture, china, sculptures, sarongs
\nand ulos displayed in shops along Jl. Ciputat Raya.<\/p>\n
Nasrun, a business veteran for 37 years, estimates only about
\n10 percent of goods sold in Ciputat antiques.<\/p>\n
"It's hard to find one these days. The meaning of antique has
\nchanged. In the past, it meant original products. Now, it's just
\nthe form of art."<\/p>\n
Buyers looking for bonafide antiques should get an expert
\nopinion first, he said.<\/p>\n
"It hurts when you've been cheated. I've been cheated many
\ntimes so I know the feeling," he said.<\/p>\n
Budi claims at least 85 percent of goods displayed in his
\ngallery are real antiques. "Our target is the upper-middle class
\npeople who want limited and exclusive items."<\/p>\n
Dealers have their own ways of surviving in the tough
\nbusiness.<\/p>\n
Given that most dealers on Jl. Ciputat Raya belong to the
\nSarik Migrant Fraternity, they avoid direct competition with one
\nanother by creating their own market niches.<\/p>\n
Gallery 59, for example, specializes in primitive wooden
\nfurniture, with limited and selected items for people in the
\nmiddle to upper income group.<\/p>\n
Limo Lapan Art Gallery focuses on wooden furniture mass
\nreproductions, targeting the middle to lower income group.<\/p>\n
"There is no standard price, because there is no basic
\nproduction cost in the antique business. It depends entirely to
\nthe buyer," Limo Lapan art shop manager Pepen said.<\/p>\n
Budi identified three types of antique wooden furniture --
\noriginal, a combination of original models plus some modification
\nin motifs, and a complete reproduction from the original design.<\/p>\n
Each type attracts its own particular buyers.<\/p>\n
With china, sculpture and painting, dealers employ their own
\nartists to make reproductions, and sell them to selected buyers.<\/p>\n
"Once I was asked by a collector to copy a Van Gogh. My artist
\nmade one, and we sold it for Rp 5 million," Budi said.<\/p>\n
Nasrun counts Pia Alisyahbana, chief editor of Femina
\nmagazine, Nelly Adam Malik, the wife of the late vice president
\nAdam Malik, several ambassadors and foreign businessmen among his
\ntop clients. Some also turn to him for advise.<\/p>\n
Surviving in the antique business requires strength and
\npatience to weather business peaks and valleys.<\/p>\n
"Some times we can have five transactions in a week, or a
\ndozen in a month," Budi said. "At other times, we have none at
\nall. It's so unpredictable."<\/p>\n
Pepen said he had been too long in the business to consider
\nswitching profession.<\/p>\n
"I started from scratch," he said. "My father was a carpenter
\nbut I was a construction worker. Then I learned to become a
\ncarpenter and now I'm a shop manager. I love this business
\nbecause it can turn a nobody into somebody."<\/p>",
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