Batik

Menurut Sudjadnan, acara berbuka puasa bersama berlangsung secara sederhana namun sarat makna. "Acaranya sederhana tapi suasananya enak dengan disampaikannya pidato oleh Presiden Obama," kata Dubes RI.Dalam acara tersebut, Obama juga berkesempatan mengunjungi meja-meja untuk menyalami para tamunya, termasuk Dubes Sudjadnan. "Seperti biasa, beliau menjawab sapaan dengan Bahasa Indonesia. Beliau mengatakan `Kabar saya baik`. Beliau juga menyampaikan salam kembali untuk Presiden (Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, red)," kata Sudjadnan. Pakaian batik yang dikenakan oleh Dubes Sudjadnan tak luput dari perhatian Obama. "Beliau mengatakan pakaian saya bagus dan batik yang saya kenakan bagus," ungkap Sudjadnan, yang pada malam itu mengenakan kemeja batik dengan motif tradisional serta peci hitam. Dalam undangan, pakaian yang dianjurkan kepada para tamu untuk menghadiri acara berbuka puasa bersama di Gedung Putih itu adalah pakaian resmi atau pakaian nasional."Saya sengaja memakai batik agar makin banyak yang tahu bahwa batik sebenarnya berasal dari dan merupakan ciri khas Indonesia," kata Sudjadnan. KBRI Washington, DC sendiri bersama keluarga adik Obama --Maya Soetoro Ng-- baru-baru ini telah selesai memamerkan koleksi batik Indonesia peninggalan ibunda Presiden Obama dan Maya Soetora, mendiang Ann Dunham, di enam kota besar di AS, yaitu di Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, San Francisco, New York dan Washington, DC.  (*)

(sumber: Antara)

You also have a lot of latitude when it comes to choosing corporate Christmas gift baskets and there are various types that you can choose from including handcrafted items, fruit baskets as also gourmet gift baskets. In addition, you can choose to send ‘thank you' gifts as well as ‘get well' gifts and many more that only require having a good imagination and which can be given to individuals as well as groups or even to small teams on different occasions such as wedding anniversaries, birthdays, and even when a project has been achieved earlier than expected.

To sum up, if you are wanting to show your company´s appreciation of its clients, employees and other people that help your company succeed, corporate christmas gift baskets are a perfect way to do this. You will need to remember that the size of the gift baskets needs to be judged against the number of people that are going to receive them, so make sure that each basket is sufficiently large for each recipient.

Sumber: http://hubpages.com/hub/Christmas-Gifts-Magazine

Blessed with an easy laugh and an earnest approach, Singgih Kartono (the name is pronounced "SING-ee") says his main interest is in sidestepping the crasser manufacturing and construction techniques that frequently accompany new electronics on their way to market.

"I have tried to redefine 'what is design?'" he says.

"I have started by trying to make a product that's good for people. And by that, I've come to know that technologies that are good for people -- such as multi-functional capability -- sometimes means that the materials are not as good."

The speed of modern marketing can be a culprit in this, he says. "Every new technology is also an investment. There's this need for payback. The equipment becomes part of this, and the industry tries to force to the market a new product" quickly, cost-effectively -- and maybe, he's saying, without regard to how that product might have been constructed for a more personal, meaningful and eco-friendly appeal.

"I have tried not to follow this trend," Kartono says, because it is not good for life. "I have tried to ask, 'Well, then, what is good for people?'

"I have tried to make a product that has a good relationship to the people, to the user."

His use of Indonesian ebony wood from his central Javanese region is being enhanced by the tree-planting efforts of a Kandangan school called Mountain Sumbling. Some 1,000 trees have been grown from seed as a nursery has been created around the production of the radio, part of Kartono's goal to employ as many people as possible.

"I want to sensitize us with Nature," he says, "the way it was in the past" but in the modern context of electronics and the consumer economy."

You find a key to the deep connection Kartono feels to his design and its local implementation in his writings about wood on his site.

"Wood is a kind of material that draws its beauty from its history," he tells us. "How it grows is an amazing process. It records its age lines. It records good and bad times. The beautiful texture and grain actually tell a story of its life. Wood is a kind of perfect material, perfect cause of its imperfection. Its characters teach us about life, balance, limits."

With such eloquence underlying his thoughts about his design, Kartono then wants to transfer to his customer for each radio -- there now is a large and smaller personal model -- a kind of mandate to handle and think about what it represents.

"I'm not using any coating on the product," he says. "I want the user to touch the wood. In my concept, the beauty of the product depends not on the product itself but on how the user handles it and protects it.

"I think people find that the longer they have the Magno radio, the more personal it becomes to them. They don't want to lend it to anyone."

That personal connection to something you care for, yourself, and come to know for its wood's special character -- "no radio is like the next, thanks to the wood, which is both soft and hard" -- is what Kartono values, as he works to develop a personal economic support system for his base of operations.

Designed by:
Singgih S. Kartono Indonesia.

Produced by:
Piranti Works.

www.magno-design.com

Written by Porter Anderson  (sumber: http://www.designtoimprovelife.dk)

Tanam pohon

Lalu apa urusan radio kayu dengan filosofi kehidupan berkelanjutan? ”Saya lahir dan dibesarkan di desa. Hutan dan kayu adalah lingkungan saya. Di desa, kayu dipakai untuk bahan bakar, bikin rumah, mainan, dan banyak hal dalam hidup. Setelah lulus kuliah, saya kembali ke desa, menghidupi desa dengan kayu dan menghidupkan kayu dari desa,” ujarnya.Kerajinan kayu memberi nilai tambah signifikan bagi kayu. ”Sebatang kayu sengon sebagai kayu bakar hanya ekuivalen dengan 0,8 dollar AS. Tapi, sebagai produk kerajinan tangan, kayu yang sama bisa menghasilkan 1.000 dollar AS. Kita harus lebih cerdas memanfaatkan kayu,” ujarnya.

Ia mengalokasikan 10 persen dari hasil penjualan produk untuk dikembalikan kepada alam, lewat pembibitan dan penanaman pohon. Itulah mengapa dari 2.200 meter persegi tanah di pabriknya yang justru menghabiskan lahan adalah pembibitan ribuan sengon, mahoni, sonokeling, dan pinus.”Bersama aktivis lingkungan, Mukidi, saya merintis penanaman pohon di kaki Gunung Sumbing yang gundul. Kami menanam 1.500-an pohon. Ada juga bantuan dari Panasonic,” ujarnya.

Ia juga bekerja sama dengan SMP Negeri 3 Bulu, Desa Wonotirto, di kaki Gunung Sumbing, menyebar kesadaran pelestarian alam dengan menanam pohon. ”Kami melibatkan murid menanam pohon di sekitar sekolah, di kaki gunung, di rumah-rumah. Anak-anak sadar akan pentingnya menyelamatkan hutan. Penggundulan hutan menyebabkan kelangkaan sumber air di kawasan ini,” ujar Wiyono, Kepala Sekolah SMP 3 Bulu.

Penggundulan hutan di Gunung Sumbing kian parah karena penanaman tembakau. ”Para petani percaya, tembakau akan berkualitas baik jika mendapat sinar matahari langsung. Jadi, semua pohon di kaki gunung ini ditebangi. Hutan menjadi gundul, rawan longsor, dan banyak mata air mengering.”Warga Desa Wonotirto harus mengambil air bersih dari sumber air yang jaraknya 6 kilometer. Itu sebabnya, kami membuat saluran air dari mata air dan membuat bak penampungan dekat sekolah. Tanpa bak itu, di sekolah ini tak ada setetes pun air bersih,” ujar Singgih.

Kerusakan lingkungan di Temanggung bisa diatasi jika ketergantungan warga pada penghidupan yang mengeksploitasi tanah dikurangi. ”Itu juga alasan saya mengembangkan kerajinan yang tak cuma efisien dalam penggunaan kayu sebagai bahan baku, tapi juga memanfaatkan sebanyak mungkin tenaga kerja,” ujarnya. Dengan konsep itu, setiap orang tanpa keterampilan apa pun bisa ditampung sebagai tenaga kerja. ”Sejak hari pertama masuk kerja, ia harus bisa mengerjakan satu bagian proses produksi. Dalam seminggu ia sudah terampil dan dalam 3-4 bulan ia terampil mengerjakan semua proses produksi. Dalam setahun, kalau mau dan punya modal, ia bisa bikin pabrik sendiri. Kalau bisa mendapat order 2.500 dollar AS sampai 3.000 dollar AS sebulan, ia bisa mempekerjakan 10 tenaga kerja,” katanya.

Singgih dibantu 30 karyawan dengan kapasitas produksi 400-an unit radio per bulan. ”Saya ingin bisa menampung 1.000 warga Kandangan atau 25 persen populasi desa. Dalam 15-20 tahun ke depan, kami punya hutan yang rimbun lagi, sumber air melimpah, dan lingkungan hidup yang baik,” ujarnya optimistis. Singgih mengawali usahanya pada tahun 2003. Ia bekerja di ruang tamu rumahnya dengan peralatan rakitan sendiri. Ia berkeliling pabrik kayu, membeli sisa kayu potongan untuk bahan baku. Dibantu istri dan empat pekerja, ia mulai membuat radio kayu. Kini, ia punya pabrik berukuran 15 meter x 18 meter yang dibangun dengan biaya Rp 100 juta.

Konsep hidup dan kerja inilah yang dijual. Orang tak hanya membeli radio kayu, tetapi mendukung konsep kehidupan berkelanjutan di Temanggung.

Sumber: Kompas, Selasa, 14 Oktober 2008 | 03:00 WIB

NUGROHO F YUDHO

Dengarkan obrolan dengan Singgih Kartono, tamu MANIFESTO yang pertama, perjalanan hidupnya, perjuangannya melatih karyawan dan membesarkan usaha kecilnya, dan prinsip-prinsip di balik kreasinya, seri radio kayu Magno yang kini tengah bertarung di People’s Award dari Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum di New York City.  Sudah banyak yang memberi dukungan bagi Magno berupa vote – sudahkah Anda voting?  Kunjungi www.magno-design.com untuk mengakses voting page People’s Award.

Sumber: http://www.voiceofjakarta.com/tag/singgih-kartono/