Endro turns garbage into fashion objects

By Singgir Kartana

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Many people believe that creativity is key to building a business because of the need for innovation in answering needs of the market. In the hands of a creative person, a seeming piece of garbage can have a use and a simple object can be made attractive.

Endro Suwarno, 35, a native of Yogyakarta, does not only spout the above principle, but also shows its truth. By using seemingly worthless objects, he has managed to develop a unique souvenir handicrafts business. His products are sold locally and internationally.

Endro's raw materials are gathered from chicken feathers, rabbit fur, bird feathers, wood chips, aluminum pipes, pieces of leather and poultry bones. Nearly all is material usually considered garbage.

But the materials are put together to form useful and attractive objects. Endro produces no fewer than 10 products -- bags of various models and sizes, key holders, hairpins, accessories like mini dolls, Indian masks, necklaces, bells, window decorations and miniature wayang (puppets).

Endro attaches small pieces of leather with glue or by stitching them together to form sheets. Following a design according to the form and measurements desired, he paints various pictures and decorates them with beads and chicken feathers. He then shapes the bag according to the design. At a glance, people would probably not believe that the objects are made from waste materials and scraps of leather.

Miniature dolls are made of wood and rabbit fur. Pieces of wood are sculpted, paint is applied and details drawn upon the figure. The dolls, with a height of between 15 cms and 20 cms, are wrapped in rabbit fur.

Chicken feathers, bird feathers, pieces of leather, beads, bone chips, aluminum pipes and pieces of wood are used for the manufacture of key holders, Indian masks, necklaces and bells. The raw material is combined with thread or glue to create various shapes and motifs. All the work is done manually.

Prices vary, with the cheapest being a key holder made of leather and rabbit fur for Rp 1,500. The most expensive is the Indian mask, about 30 cms in diameter, at Rp 500,000 each.

Endro started his business in 1991. The simple reason was that the raw material was easy to obtain and there was little competition in the handicraft business. His original aspiration was to become a handicraftsman or a businessman but a painter. He still paints and as a child he liked Indian comic books.

"Why did I enter the handicraft business? Because I was conscious that if I depended solely on painting or being an artist for a living, I would neglect my family. I would not be able to earn enough. At the time, I already had responsibilities to my family. It is my principle to provide for them. Later I could follow the voice of my heart," he told The Jakarta Post at his production center in Sumberan village, Ngestiharjo, Kasihan, Bantul, Yogyakarta.

Endro says it is not difficult to obtain the raw materials, nearly all of which is available not far from his house. The prices are reasonable, too. He obtains chicken feathers from the many chicken slaughterhouses in Yogyakarta. They cost Rp 10 per kilogram. Rabbit fur is found at rabbit sate stalls.

"If it is difficult to obtain them here, I order them from Sidoarjo or Magetan in East Java," he said.

Endro's business turnover is sizable at no less than Rp 60 million a month. His products are sold in Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, Bali and Lombok. They also are exported to the U.S., Germany, France, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia, Switzerland, Myanmar and Brazil.

Endro rents three neighboring houses as workplaces. He has hired workers, most of them from the villages around Bantul. Now he employs no less than 150 people, many of them women with families. Some of his workers are married couples.

Workers earn between Rp 4,000 and Rp 15,000 daily depending on their productivity.

For all Endro's success in shaping beauty from garbage and its prospects for further development, there is no denying that his business is not sufficiently supported by strong management, both in quality improvement and in marketing.

His product designs have remained stagnant over the years. His marketing relies on direct information spread by word of mouth. Endro has no venue to show his products and he lacks brochures or other marketing tools. The location of his business is not strategic because it is set back from the main road.

Despite the weaknesses, Endro's handicraft business has brought considerable benefits to local inhabitants. Endro's family shares these gains with many other people from the surrounding villages.

"I am grateful that I can work here in order to provide for my family. Even in this time of economic crisis we can still earn well," said Temu, 40, whose wife also is in Endro's employment.

Temu and other workers have much reason to be grateful. The Bantul regional administration also should be grateful because the handicraft center is doing its part to help lower the ranks of the unemployed.