Obin's House: Keeping true to tradition

Obin's House: Keeping true to tradition

Maria Endah Hulupi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Situated in the shady Teluk Betung area of Central Jakarta,
cloth designer Josephine W. Komara's boutique and house, the Bin
House, is a reflection of the typical Menteng houses of the
1930s.

The cars of clients and guests are neatly parked in front of
the gate. The front garden is filled with leafy plants that shade
the terrace and also provide a natural barrier from prying eyes
looking in from the street.

Guests enter the house through a glass door that is
embellished with several long garlands of dried jasmine. Inside
there are beautiful pieces of cloth and garments, created by the
designer, who is popularly known as Obin.

"I didn't design this house. It wasn't designed, it just
gradually became the way it is now," said Obin while looking
around her artistic boutique.

When her family and staff moved into the house in November
1993, they decided to preserve the old structure.

"We wanted to preserve everything in it, and we tried to bring
back the original elements of the house," her assistant, Budi
Suryadi, explained.

For this purpose, a renovation project was undertaken, which
included removing the modern ceramic tiles to reveal the house's
old terra-cotta tiles.

"When we moved in here, Obin didn't like the tiles. We told
the workers to dig up the floor, which exposed the house's old
tiles. We found them more interesting and we decided to use
them," Budi said.

He said it was a time-consuming project that required the
careful removal of the ceramic tiles one by one so as not to
damage the old tiles lying beneath them.

"It was worth the effort and it was also in harmony with our
initial plan, which was to preserve a typical Menteng house of
the 1930s," he added.

Some other renovations were made, including knocking down
walls to join adjacent rooms, creating a spacious and more open
display room, stretching to the middle part of the house, which
used to be a guestroom, a living room and a bedroom.

The public area goes back to the fitting room, which is
connected to the back part of the house -- consisting of a
kitchen, dinning room and store room -- through a door.

A modern touch was added to the house by renovating the old
high ceiling, which also allowed in more light to highlight the
cloth being sold.

Obin furnished her display room with her collection of old
wooden furniture. Among the pieces are a traditional bale-bale
(divan), several round tables made from rare Ambon sutra wood,
carved chests and a table and chairs in the peranakan (mixed
Chinese-Malay) style.

There large mirrors create a more spacious effect and, of
course, enable guests to get a look at themselves in the garments
they try on.

Obin's wide range of cloths, which include wall hangings and
sofa covers, are also used as aesthetic accents on the walls, as
well as for the interior in general.

She has also decorated her house with interesting plants,
including the zingiber zerumbet and tapeinochilos ananassae. Also
displayed are dried paddy, as a symbol of prosperity, along with
her nature-inspired, leaf-shaped wooden containers.

There are several bowls filled with scented flowers like sedap
malam, rose petals, jasmine and kenanga, put in different
locations in the display room. Their fragrance fills the air and
further enhances the atmosphere.

For Obin, beautiful flower arrangements are not only there to
add decorative touches to her display room.

"I love to feel this leaf," she said, caressing the upper part
of a large and thick leaf that has a velvety texture. "But don't
ask me the name of the plant."

She went to another round table and rubbed the tip of a fennel
branch in a large vase.

"Give me your hand and put this in your mouth," she said as
she did the same. The aromatic fennel seed released a sweet and
minty flavor. "It helps soothe a sore throat."

"I like to eat them (fennel seeds) even when I'm talking with
friends. I guess they don't understand why I eat my own
ornaments. But that's OK, I like it even when it means ruining
the arrangement," she laughs.

And she took a branch from an ornamental plant in a nearby
arrangement and gave it to a client leaving the boutique. Maybe
this was just Obin's way of saying, "See you again".