Creativity results in gorgeous gifts, wraps

Maria Endah Hulupi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

With Idul Fitri, Christmas and New Year festivities on the horizon, people are getting busy buying gifts for their loved ones and colleagues. Nowadays, handing over gifts is not merely for birthdays or weddings but also for other occasions.

The first impression made by your gifts is very necessary. The impression will be stronger if you can wrap them in a very unique and stylish way.

It requires good judgment of the recipients' character, not only in deciding what kind of gift, but also the wrapping. It is also important to know that the gifts will be useful or meaningful to the recipients.

Originality and creativity are definitely needed to create beautiful gifts and wrapping. In fact, we can use simple materials like banana and tree bark, wild grass, bird cages and the forgotten (even dying) traditional treats.

Those items have been transformed into fantastic gifts by noted interior designer Warwick Purser and famous fashion designer/actor Robby Tumewu.

"Indonesia is rich with natural materials which can be created into handicraft items. This potential must be respected and explored," said Purser during the Gorgeous Gifts and Hampers for the Holiday Season, held at Plaza Indonesia, Central Jakarta last Monday.

He showed his skills by creating beautiful frames from banana bark, wooden containers, fabrics and other artistic details from ilalang (wild grass). He also used batik motifs for his leather frame.

His products were made using local and natural materials. They were produced and assembled by nearly 2,000 workers in his workshop in Yogyakarta.

"It's challenging to find an original idea and if you love nature it's easy to create something like these," he said, when asked about inspirations for his creative products.

His tips for personalized gifts include knowing what the person wants, never buying gifts from department stores (because the person can get it him/herself) and never giving perfumes or ties as each person has his/her own taste for such items.

Robby expressed his love for "old things" as gifts. He hunted for some old favorite traditional snacks, like kue semprong ceper (egg rolls), kue satu (meringue made of green beans) and kembang goyang, some old glass containers for the snacks and some bird cages and bronze bokor (traditional bowls) to wrap the snacks with.

He said he got the inspiration when going to pasar burung (bird market) in Barito, South Jakarta, recently. It was noted cloth designer Obin who reintroduced the delicious charm of some dying traditional treats.

"She took me strolling along some small and muddy alleys in Glodok, West Jakarta, looking for traditional snacks. I enjoyed it (exploring traditional markets) very much. But these snacks were prepared by a friend of mine," he said.

"The snacks were among some old favorites, some are my favorites too but they have been slowly forgotten and the old glass containers that I use are also rare items and I only found 25 pieces," Robby said.

For him, making parcels is just a temporary business he does if asked by friends.

"I didn't plan this business but friends called me and asked me if I would create some parcels, so here I am," he laughed.

His parcels are embellished with local spices and paddy, giving them a strong traditional look.

"I also use unique containers for the parcels, like these (bird) cages. They would surely leave a lasting impression because after receiving my parcels, the recipients would call me and ask me how they can open these cages. And to tell you the truth I don't know either," he laughed, while jokingly adding that such confusion helped make the gift memorable.

Fahira Idris, founder of leading parcel company Nabila Parcel, said art objects or antiques would always make a precious gift.

And to survive the economic crisis, gift consultants like herself were challenged to create meaningful hampers even though most of her clients had reduced their budgets.

"I would survey the clients to know what kinds of gifts they were looking for," Fahira said.

Apart from antiques, her parcels include aroma therapy, books with library accessories and a set of bathing products with towels, among others.

While Plaza Indonesia also creates an extensive range of beautiful holiday gifts for chocolate, tea, coffee and wine lovers, cosmetics, baby's needs for mothers, pasta package for cook lovers, silverware and potpourri.

But no matter what kinds of gifts you will hand over, your attention counts most. And in the words of noted artist Christine Hakim, who is also Plaza Indonesia Ambassador, "a meaningful gift is not a matter of the price but the thought that went into choosing them".