Antique imitations offer affordability

By Muhamad Achadi

SURAKARTA, Central Java (JP): If you wish to feature only the romanticism of the past in your daily life, you need not take the trouble to collect antiques. Why? Because it is now possible to produce exact imitations of antique pieces. The skill to make these imitation pieces is possessed by residents of four villages in Central Java's Juwiring subdistrict, Sukoharjo district.

For many years, residents of the four villages of Serenan, Gondansari, Tiogo Randu and Mbelokan have been making items to fulfill the demand for furniture with an antique character. These villages have practically become an industrial center for such furniture.

Imitation antique furniture can be made here to conform with the design of any style. Colonial style cupboards, chairs with vertical and horizontal Chinese patterns or simple traditional furniture used by rural people can all be had here. The customers of these furniture builders can be found here in Indonesia and overseas.

Take, for instance, a traditional Javanese wooden sofa in the house of Guwadi, 50, a furniture maker at Serenan village. A sofa like this, usually placed on a terrace or inside a house, is now popular among antique furniture enthusiasts. Unlike furniture with a unique Jepara style, which has a lot of complicated carvings on it, this traditional sofa is more simple with spiral patterns on the armrests and flower motifs on the back. The rest is uncarved wood.

A layman would not be able to distinguish between this sofa and an antique that is 100 years old. The imitation piece is lusterless and fibers of the wood are intentionally made visible here and there as would be the case for a piece of furniture already dozens of years old. This antique impression is created during the finishing process.

"The antique impression greatly depends on the success of the finishing process," Guwadi said.

To create the sense that a piece is an antique, the wood is first smoothed with sandpaper and then polished before being sprayed with paint thinner and polished with furniture varnish.

The antique impression on the wooden fibers is produced by heating the surface to a certain temperature. The fire must be applied to the surface evenly so that the wood takes on a lusterless and blackish look. If the wood has been painted a particular color -- usually brown, green or blue -- the heating process will make the color look aged.

The use of pegs instead of nails in building the piece also adds to the impression that it is an antique.

The furniture makers generally use teak, mahogany or a type of hardwood locally known as sonokeling (L. Dalbergia latifola). These three types of wood have fine fibers, are easily shaped and are relatively durable. Foreign buyers usually prefer mahogany and sonokeling because they are more durable than teak at colder temperatures.

As for the style of the furniture, it depends on the order. The furniture makers, of course, have their own collection of furniture models -- usually seen in simple photocopied catalogs. Frequently, though, buyers bring in their own designs to be built.

"Give us the design and we can make the furniture," said Guwadi.

Furniture making in Juwiring subdistrict began with Biyanto, Guwadi's father, who used to work as a carver at the sultan's palace in Surakarta.

Biyanto set up his traditional furniture business in Serenan village. Guwadi then followed in his father's footsteps. When Guwadi's business flourished, other villagers, mostly farmers, followed suit.

Furniture-making businesses soon spread from Serenan to other nearby villages. In 1980, there were about 600 furniture makers in four other villages. By 1997, the number of furniture makers in these villages totaled 4,000.

The furniture industry here has a specialized production system. Some furniture makers, for example, specialize in making crude furniture. Others carve designs in the furniture. Still others plait rattan for the parts of the furniture to sit on.

They do this work in their own homes, using quite modern equipment. The finishing touches are usually made by a gatherer, usually a successful furniture maker.

The furniture made in Juwiring is, of course, lower in price than real antique furniture. Antiques costing millions of rupiah, can be had in imitation form for between Rp 200,000 and Rp 800,000. A 1.5 meter by two meter teak dining table with simple motif carvings, for example, costs only Rp 300,000.

Besides Guwadi, who uses 600 furniture makers, there are four other furniture businessmen acting as gatherers in Juwiring. Pieces are sold both domestically -- to clients in Jakarta, Surabaya, Yogyakarta, Surakarta and Bali -- and exported. Export activities began in 1990. Every month Guwadi exports an average of two containers of furniture (about 800 pieces) to a number of countries like the United States, Australia, the Netherlands and England.

This export market has been unaffected by the economic crisis although raw materials have become more expensive. Teak, for example, has risen in price from Rp 1.2 million to Rp 1.4 million per cubic meter. Polishing materials, paint thinner and varnish have likewise gone up in price.

"There has been no reduction in demand from the export market, although we have raised our furniture prices. The demand from the domestic market, however, has dropped sharply," said Guwadi.