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."