Champion of vocational training

Champion of vocational training

Marilyn August, Associated Press/Jakarta

Indonesia's most renowned fashion designer has taken up a greater
challenge than dressing stars and socialites, presidents and
princesses.

Harry Darsono plans to clothe the children of tsunami-ravaged
Aceh province, not with handouts or hand-and-me-downs, but
through vocational training in the fast-disappearing handicraft
techniques -- embroidery, needlework, patchwork and weaving among
them -- unique to the northern Sumatra province.

"Give them skills, teach them to be productive and they'll be
able to clothe and feed themselves," Darsono said after returning
from the area devastated by the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami.

This is the lesser-known side of the impish, bespectacled
Indonesian superstar -- a term he despises -- whose multiple
talents have been woven into a highly successful career spanning
nearly four decades.

Eccentric, Darsono requires visitors to his newly renovated
"hands-on," private textile museum in South Jakarta to wear all
black or white -- so as not to clash with the designs on display.

Flamboyant, he carries a US$27,000, gem-studded cell phone
when he entertains wealthy clients. Versatile, he is a concert
pianist, cellist and practiced Balinese dancer. Funny, he holds
aloft a round, fluffy hat inspired by, in his own words, "a heap
of cow dung!"

Other famous creations include an elegant, floor-length gown
made from hand-woven, 22 carat gold silk threads.

"You can squeeze it. It doesn't crumple," enthuses Darsono,
55, as he leads a group on a tour of the museum. Housed in a
three-story Baroque-style mansion inspired by the designer's
passion for European style and detail, it boasts a wide marble
staircase, ornate moldings, gilded mirrors and chandeliers and
period furniture attesting to his eclectic taste.

But for Darsono fabric is magic. Visitors are urged try on
gowns, jackets and hats worn by the rich and famous, including
several items worn by the late Princess Diana that he managed to
buy back at auction.

Darsono's love affair with textiles began when he was a
"naughty" young boy in the grip of dyslexia and Attention Deficit
Hyperactive Disorder. By age nine, he'd been thrown out of seven
schools, finally landing in a French boarding school where he
remained mute for two years, communicating with staff and
teachers through drawing and sign language.

A twin and the fifth of eight children, Darsono says he was
lucky to have enlightened parents who recognized his learning
disabilities, and who could afford proper treatment abroad. Music
therapy helped calm the aggressive behavior that virtually
vanished when he learned to use a spinning wheel.

"When I touched that spinning wheel, I started my destiny. It
was an introduction into a different world. My aggression
disappeared. I had to be gentle and patient to use it," he said
in an interview with The Associated Press.

Darsono went on to attend the prestigious Ecole des Beaux Arts
in Paris, studied clothing technology at the London College of
Fashion and at the London Film and Television Academy for Stage
Production where he developed a lifelong passion for theater and
opera costume design. He later earned a doctoral degree in
humanistic philosophy at Oxford.

Today, he opens his doors to disturbed, impoverished children
to teach them a trade such as batik work, beading, embroidery and
weaving.

"I put the most difficult cases in the spinning room," he
says. A museum tour includes a stop at the studios where young
girls with tiny, practiced fingers sew sequins onto silk and
where young boys carefully transfer Darsono's designs to fabric
that will then be hand-painted and crafted into one-of-a-kind
creations demanded by his illustrious clients -- international
beauty contestants and Arab princesses among them.

The tour inevitably ends with tea and pastry in a cozy, third-
floor lounge where Darsono accompanies an opera singer on a baby
grand piano.

Darsono has long been committed to vocational education as an
alternative -- not only for problem children but for street kids
who can't pay school fees. In Indonesia, public school is
supposedly free, but the requirement that children wear uniforms
and buy their own school supplies and books makes it too
expensive for millions.

He claims to have "saved" some 4,600 street children and has
now set his sights on helping Acehnese orphans recover from the
tsunami. He traveled to Aceh in January, working with local non-
governmental organizations to help distribute money, food and
clothing his foundation gathered in the early days of the
tragedy.

More than 128,000 people died and half a million were left
homeless in the earthquake and tsunami that struck Aceh on Dec.
26.

Darsono -- who also is chairman of the National Council for
Vocational Education -- said his foundation is working with
authorities to set up training centers that will teach thousands
of children traditional Acehnese textile techniques, including a
special type of embroidery using bright colors and designs
heavily influenced by centuries of trade with India, Arabia and
China.

His most recent project is working with the Rotary Club to
improve hygiene and health for some of Jakarta's poorest
residents.

"You wouldn't believe that in some of the wealthiest
neighborhoods, you have enclaves of people who live without
running water," Darsono said. "Our fund-raising will help finance
proper toilets."