19th September 2022 – Marta Bakowski, a 35-year-old independent French designer, studied traditional Balinese crafts for a month. The research she has done will showcase Bali‘s very own art and craft which will be exhibited at Paris Design Week 2023.
Thanks to the collaboration among Cush Cush Gallery, the Embassy of France and IFI (Institut Francais Indonesia), this project is able to represent other things about Bali that are generally overlooked. It’s a pilot project called ADIR (Artist Designer in Residence).
During her stay, Bakowski was taken to North Bali and East Bali, where she met local artisans such as cloth, mask and paint craftsmen. There the french designer had a dialogue as well as research ideas to be brought to Paris Design Week next year.
Made Sesangka Pujalaksana (52), one of the artisans visited by Marta Bakowski, said he was happy when the French designer studied at his Kamasan Classical Wayang Wayang Wasundari Studio.
“With her visit to the studio, we are delighted because she finds the ancestral heritage to be interesting. Overall she is happy, she plays with colours, she sees the process of making natural colours and tries to apply colours on the canvas,” said Sesangka.
Furthermore, Bakowski admits that she is ecstatic about her visit to Bali. She becomes more open about texture, colours and symbols. Her excitement relies significantly on her meeting with mask makers. She took those pieces to become work with a philosophical meaning in them.
The idea behind this project was to develop the result into a product design that would reflect the collaboration between her and the crafters she met. During her stay in Bali, she was happy because this island has cities/regencies that still have a strong sense of its own art and culture and its friendly citizens.
“It feels authentic and very down to earth, a simple but nice place. Great hospitality, a very strong sense of tradition, respect for religion and beliefs that are very tolerant,” said Bakowski.
