Asia, Europe inspire designers

Asia, Europe inspire designers

Maria Endah Hulupi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Asia has long been known for its exotic ornaments while Europe
has been famous for its glamor. Both continents inspired
Indonesian designer Jaya Ibrahim in his latest creations for the
Elite Grahacipta interior design showroom.

While American designer Thomas B. Elliot was clearly more
fascinated by the richness of monotones in his latest designs for
the same showroom.

Their creations were recently displayed for the showroom's
25th anniversary commemoration at Elite's newly renovated head
office at Jl. Kyai Maja No. 6, South Jakarta.

Elliot's modern Asian design is titled "The Richness of
Monotones". For the theme, the designer chose different hues in
brown.

"The concept is to work in various brown colors. We explored
that as much as we can with a little accent," he said.

Elliot wanted to invite the public to witness the beautiful
range of tones in brown and the richness of wood and its
different grain patterns and finishing colors. All were blended
to provide visual support for the theme.

He used wooden furniture with beautiful woodgrain finishing as
a contrast and blended them with mostly soft-toned upholstery
fabrics.

He also used a lot of dark carpets so they would stand out and
their edges would give a little definition and more richness to
the room.

Although he chose to use American beds and Spanish tables for
the furniture, the Asian nuances were still obvious with the use
of lithographs from Thailand and a little Chinese kimono, all
were framed and hung as wall decorations. There were also several
traditional honey-colored woven baskets for dim sum, placed at
several corners as light ornaments.

Natural silks were also hung on the ceiling to separate each
section on the same floor but Elliot said that such a technique
can also be adopted in real houses as an interesting divider.

"I also do the same for my own house," said the designer who
also did the interior architecture of Elite's head office.

Jaya created "A Journey from Earthly Asia to Exotic Europe"
which emphasized on the aesthetic blend between Asian and
European elements. The creation emanated grand and glamorous
ambience.

"Like many Europeans fascinated by Asian items, European
furniture is also exotic for locals," he said, explaining the
reason for choosing the theme.

Jaya accentuated on colors to support the theme and used
mainly dark red, white and gold to accompany a beautiful
collection of antique jade and several 14th century celadon
dishes from Sukhothai, Thailand. Both collections were hung as
wall ornaments.

"For the Chinese, Jade represents eternity," he said.

He also embellished a wall with an Arabian carved wooden panel
that, when looked at closely, also possesses traces of Chinese
influence.

"It impresses me to know there is an object found in a region
but later turned out to have originated from another region,"
Jaya said.

His dining room creation was embellished with a Persian carpet
and a Baccarat hanging crystal light. This particular room was a
transition between the dominant dark red bedroom in one section
to the mostly white and gold section in the other.

Local items used in his design include huge terracotta pots
from Banten and several urn-like objects (used for storing sirih)
from Aceh. The latter were arranged in line and each were
decorated with several pineapples on top of it.

For the ornamental fabrics, Jaya chose mostly neutral colors,
like white silk from India and a yellow silk from Thailand
because his design in general was already "colorful".

Both Elliot and Jaya beautified their design with elegant
cloths, created by noted cloth maker and designer Baron
Manangsang.

"I asked Baron how could he create a piece of cloth that
matches perfectly my design. Then I took this one," Jaya laughed,
pointing his finger at an elegant soft-toned cloth, thrown over a
chaise lounge.

Lighting for both designers were created by lighting
consultant Hadi Komara, whose magical touch managed to create a
cozy atmosphere and highlight aesthetic elements in both interior
designs.

However, to radiate a little festivity for the occasion, Jaya
also lighted candles in every room.

"I like to have two kinds of lighting; ordinary lights as they
radiate constant beams of light and candles because they give a
luminescent glow," he said.