F.X. Widayanto: A home where tranquility reigns

Maria Endah Hulupi, The Jakarta Post, Ciawi, West Java

Ceramics designer F.X. Widayanto has his own idea of what constitutes a dream house.

It should be situated in a peaceful environment, surrounded by nature and clean, fresh air.

He realized his dream house on a two-hectare plot in Tapos, Ciawi, Bogor, about an hour-and-a-half drive from Jakarta, in the early 1990s. It is everything he wants in a home, including providing the privacy and tranquility he needs to create his art.

Access to his home is along a one-track lane, lined with large trees. The house cannot be seen from outside its grounds, with plants such as hibiscus growing along the surrounding fence and shielding the view.

"I spend four days (a week) in this house. Just like in my other house in Ciganjur, I also have a workshop here so I can continue working," he said on a tour of the house, patting his golden retriever, Asli, who follows him wherever he goes.

It is a refuge of sorts in more ways than one. His Ciganjur house is busy, with members of the public flocking there to find out how to make fine clay products.

Widayanto fell in love at first sight with the Tapos land, carved out from its own natural environment. The land is filled with trees but still receives plenty of sunlight and cool air. A stream passes through the upper part of the plot.

His front garden has philodendron, bauhinia, ferns and tree ferns, the latter native to the land.

"I drew the sketch of this house and I gave it to my worker. He then helped me build it," he said.

Widayanto has put his own personal touch on the house with his artistic creations, such as tiles, statues, bathroom fittings and paintings.

He wanted to give a special welcome to his guests by decorating the front terrace, which leads to the guest room, with tiles to resemble a multipatterned carpet. The front terrace is furnished with a small table and twin chairs with a wooden figure, clad in Javanese attire, hanging from the ceiling.

In the guest room, Widayanto has an old traditional bamboo bale-bale (a large traditional chair), a carved table and two chairs.

On the wall, he displays dozens of traditional hats, usually used by shepherds or farmers, in different sizes and shapes, which he collected from various parts of the country.

He also displayed two of his latest elephant statues, titled Liman Trengginas and Kinemulan Sukma (literally meaning "coquettish elephant" and "blanket of soul") on top of two large decorative clay pots.

In front of the wooden staircase, there is a striking Balinese wall-hanging of a face, made of longan tree root. The stairs are decorated with carpet-shaped tiles.

Located on the second floor is a guest bedroom with an adjacent bathroom, with the wall and floor lined with pieces of ceramic tile. A large decorative clay urn that serves as the water vat and the washstand are also his products.

The bedroom is furnished with twin beds, a carved wooden armoire and a wooden table. Widayanto also displays several of his latest works -- statuettes of Javanese women -- in this room.

"Some of my latest creations are kept in this house before I display them at an exhibition," he explained.

There is an open area on the second floor, furnished with a wooden carved armoire and a small clay pot, containing long clubs on top of each, as well as a variety of traditional musical instruments from different provinces.

On the next floor is his own bedroom. There is an old beautifully carved four-poster bed; the walls on each side of the bed are bedecked with 15 framed pictures of wayang (shadow puppet) characters.

"The pictures were taken from an old book, belonging to my father. It was published in 1912 and was in bad condition. I framed them with the aim of protecting them from further damage," Widayanto said.

From his bedroom, he can see a canopy of green in his garden and the kennel for his seven canine friends.

The walls outside his bedroom are filled with his portraits. "I've painted some faces, from Salvador Dali to my newspaperman," he said.

The dining room is located in an extension of the house, right in front of the rear door, leading to his kitchen. Next to it is a small pond, filled with a trickle of water from the nearby stream. The room is furnished with an old solid long dining table and chairs from Yogyakarta. The wall is decorated with six drawings on ceramics.

The sparkling gray floor on the side terrace bears beautiful prints of fern leaves. "The floor was made from plain cement, sprinkled with iron sand and then fern leaf patterns were drawn on top."

After the tour, we returned to the outdoor dining room, where we enjoyed the beautiful view of his front garden, the peace and quiet only broken by the gurgle of water from the nearby pond.

Over an appetizing lunch of traditional dishes, including shredded gourd, crispy salted fish, kering tempe (sweet fried tempeh) and egg and tofu curry, Widayanto revealed that he is anxious that, one day, this dream house could fall victim to a natural disaster.

"This is a beautiful location, but to tell you the truth, I cannot sleep during rainy nights, fearing landslides from the other hill," he said, pointing at a slope just across from his house.

"Two years ago, the area was struck by an earthquake, followed by a landslide that later caused damage to the house. I've just finished renovating it."

But for the time being, and barring any unforeseen developments, Widayanto's house on the hill is still a dream come true.