Ex-model steps out into shoe business

Ex-model steps out into shoe business

By Agni Amorita

JAKARTA (JP): A successful modeling career is the dream of
many young girls. But Auk Murat said goodbye to modeling when she
was at the peak of her career. She decided to go into shoe
designing in what she herself describes as a "long story".

Although her modeling career was brief, she had already made a
name for herself. She was crowned the best model in the country
and received the Rahadian Yamin Award for modeling in 1987 at the
age of 17. She realized that modeling success would inevitably
be shortlived.

"After becoming a professional model, I realized that I was
moving in a very small world," she says. "I'm talking of physical
and mental restrictions, because one's skin and figure become
vulnerable to change as we grow older."

She believed remaining in the fashion business would be the
best place for her due to her existing connections within the
Jakarta fashion scene. She saw opportunities in shoe design.

"In 1989, I observed that fashionable shoes for women were
still missing from the scene," she said at her showroom on Jl.
Ciragil in South Jakarta which is decorated in a rainbow of
colors and lined with shelves of the latest shoe styles.

"At that time, what we had were casual shoes, which were in
mass production. We couldn't find any fashionable shoes to wear
along with couture evening gowns. That's why I decided to go for
it."

Auk's name is today synonymous with fashionable women's shoes,
but she had qualms when she started out in the business.

"It was a new field since there were no other designers. I
held a marketing test first. The market grew and this meant there
was demand for my product."

The marketing test lasted for two years and was conducted as a
person-to-person sales effort.

"When consumer trust was established, I abandoned the first
method of subcontracting shoemakers. I set up my own office and
opened a home industry. I started out with three staff members
but I now have 12 employees who supply the shoes to five
outlets."

Auk's handmade shoes are also sold in the Seibu department
store and several stores in Kuningan and Kemang. She produces 80
pairs of shoes a week. A maximum of 15 pairs are made of a
specific model. She uses local leather, local imitation leather
and textiles, but the raw material, such as the carton, is
imported from France and the heels from Taiwan. Her collection
ranges in price from Rp 95,000 to Rp 295,000 a pair.

"What is special about my shoes is its selective models,
limited numbers and ultimate fashion trend," she said.

She designs herself all the shoes, which always feature open
heels.

"I learned from doing. I look closely at the anatomy of the
wearers. I keep on improving my drawing technique, sharpening my
intuition and the feel of my art."

In the beginning, she marketed her shoes to her model friends
only. Now Auk's customers include wives of government officials,
career women and schoolchildren.

She chooses to describe herself as a "shoe artist" instead of
as a businesswoman running a home industry. The success of her
career has come at the expense of one of her youthful ambitions
to become a lawyer.

"I had to make a very difficult decision, to study or to go in
the business," said the former law student of Tarumanegara
University.

"I was already in the second year of university when I got
carried away in modeling activities. There were often four shows
in one day, either out-of-town shows and international shows.
After an absence from academics, I was certain that my future was
in the world of fashion. So I said goodbye to university life."

Her family was shocked by the decision. "My father, who was a
legal consultant, was especially concerned about education. I was
like a "destroyer" in my family. But it all depends on how we
prove ourselves, and how consistent we are."

Her family has now come to accept her involvement in the
business, and her father has even permitted the use of the family
home for the shoe operations.

Tennis

Auk, whose real name is Sasanti Paramita Rahayu, was born in
Jakarta on June 26, 1970.

Auk toyed with the idea of becoming a tennis player during
adolescence and made other career detours before becoming a
designer.

"I was among the best 16 junior players of Indonesia. I won
several times in the girl's doubles tournaments and I became one
of the foremost athletes in West Jakarta. At that time, I was
exercising five times a week from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m."

Auk joined the Mercubuana club, owned by businessman
Probosutedjo, who discovered tennis players Yayuk Basuki and
Wailan Walalangi.

"My life has indeed been quite colorful. When I was a small
girl I was active in Javanese and Balinese dancing, I joined a
theater group, and I became an actress too."

She acted in the film Bibir Merah (Red Lips) directed by
the late film director Arifin C. Noer, which won her a nomination
for best supporting actress in the Indonesian Film Festival 1991.

She received awards as the most promising poetry reader of
Jakarta, earned a reputation as a comedy actress because of the
TV serials Dongeng Langit (Tale from the Sky) and Hari Hari Mau.

Auk's motto in life is to improve and maintain balance. "This
motto stems from my character as a woman who expects to have a
family of her own one day," said Auk, who has an Australian
boyfriend.

"Whatever my future ambitions are, I always connect them to
this motto of balance. We all have some plan and a target in
future like I do, but I do not want to bit more than I could
chew. "

Of all the targets she set in her life, the shoe project has
come to fruition. She is now heading for the second target of
establishing a children's party organizer firm under the name
Bocah (Kids).

Bocah has not been established for business alone but also to
recapture some of the childhood fun she missed out on during her
modeling career.

"And I still miss my childhood days. Aside from that, I like
to be with children. I love children. I want to realize an old
idea of mine with the establishment of Bocah," said Auk.

"The business aspects of this new venture are also good. The
kids' world has not been fully explored yet, particularly in the
field of child entertainment. I plan to combine the entertainment
world with child education. For instance, there will be
performances where children play an active part to entertain
their friends and to strengthen their sense of independence."

Auk has another target for next year.

"I've started the preparations, little by little," she said
while fixing the long hair which was her trademark in modeling.
"I am going into the adventure tourism services. This field has
great potential in our country. Ah, I like keep on moving and
moving."