Cepogo, center of metal handicrafts

Cepogo, center of metal handicrafts

Bambang M and Gigin W. Utomo, Contributors, Boyolali, Central Java

Noisy sounds from a hammer emanating from houses from morning
until dusk is the trademark of Cepogo village, a brass and copper
handicraft center located some 1,200 meters above sea level on
the western slope of Mount Merapi.

In a way, Cepogo looks like a giant workshop involving
hundreds of craftsmen in the village and displays handmade works
ranging from kitchen appliances to various kinds of decorative
products like vases, ashtrays, lamp caps and containers of
different functions and sizes in showrooms along the village's
main street.

According to the village's head, Abdul Choir, some 30 percent
of Cepogo's 7,000 people were involved in the business, which
they have been running for generations

"Some residents work for successful craftsmen and
businesspeople while others prefer to work at home, selling their
wares to successful handicraft businessmen," said Abdul Choir, a
craftsman himself.

Handicraft businessmen from different cities, Abdul added, had
been making regular visits to the village to buy the village's
products. Through the process, many Cepogo handicraft products
were sent to many cities outside Java at least before the Bali
bombing, which immediately had an impact on the village's export.

Cepogo's products are also well-known among arts lovers
because of its artistic quality. A number of good artists were
born in the village, like Supri Haryanto, who was hired by the
Surakarta Palace in Surakarta, Central Java, in 1985 to work on
the metal work interior relief of the Palace.

"The 14-meter high and six-meter diameter dome at the Buddhist
Monastery in Semarang (Central Java) is also my work. I was told
it was the biggest Buddhist dome in Asia," said Supri, recipient
of the 1993 Upakarti Award.

Because of the village's success as a handicraft center,
Cepogo does look much wealthier than other villages in the
region. This can be seen from the modern-style houses spotted
along the main street passing through the village or the
village's smooth asphalted road.

But the success came over a long period.

It is said the metal business was started in the 16th century
when Pangeran (Prince) Jolang, also known as Pangeran Rogosasi,
of the renowned Mataram Kingdom moved to Tumang in Cepogo.
There, he built a new complex and produced various kinds of metal
kitchen appliances like frying pans, containers and spoons.

"That's how Tumang became popular as the center of copper-made
kitchen appliances," a villager Triyono said.

According to Triyono, up to the end of 1970s, most copper
handicraftsmen in Cepogo still produced kitchen appliances.

But at the beginning of the 1980s, with the government's
introduction of other new products like souvenirs, interior and
exterior decorative items as well as helping local craftsmen with
investment and marketing information, new products were created.

Supri Haryanto, owner of Muda Tama handicrafts shop, was one
of the pioneers in creating products other than kitchen
appliances.

He went to Yogyakarta to learn how to make various metal-made
handicrafts, and chose noted Yogyakartan artist and handicrafts
shop owner Sapto Hudoyo as his mentor. With his new knowledge, he
then started his innovative work and became successful.

His success eventually inspired other artists to follow, since
they found the new products were more promising economically than
the old ones. If a kitchen appliance is worth between Rp 20,000
and Rp 50,000, the price of a new product could reach up to
hundreds of thousands of rupiah. A container for umbrellas, for
instance, costs up to Rp 300,000.

Unfortunately, the Cepogo handicraft industry is very much
dependent on the supply of the raw material from other countries,
like Italy, Japan and South Korea. They have to import it
because, according to the craftsmen, the domestic copper was
unable to be processed further into handicrafts due to its low
quality.

As a consequence, when the economic crisis hit the country
back in 1997 and the value of the rupiah against other currencies
was extremely low, Cepogo's craftsmen could not afford to buy
copper. Many of them were forced to stop producing copper-made
handicrafts and made a switch by producing aluminum-made ones.
Now with a stronger rupiah, they are back to the old business
again.