If you are interested, please send an email to: [email protected]
See you there!
Aksen Tiny House: #1 Survey results
Here is our summary of our first survey’s results, on tiny houses. Thank you so much for those who have contributed by filling in the survey and sharing them among your friends. Jessica and I really appreciate it. Link to the previous post on the questionnaire is here.
KALA: Christmas Hampers +62
Delivery in Indonesia (+62) only.
Hi all, not to scare you off the upcoming Christmas vibe. Just putting it out there in case you need to work on your gift ideas.
KALA is subsidiary brand of Aksen, and it is our product design line. KALA focuses on the use natural materials with Indonesian touch, promoting attainable yet sustainable lifestyle in form of day-to-day products. We design, produce and work with our team of artisans in Magetan.
For our Christmas line, we curated distinctive 5 basic sets allowing for highly personalised hamper sets, in collaboration with 3 local artisans (a baker, macrame maker and crotchet maker).
Basic set (starts from IDR 75k per set) + add-ons you can choose from the list.
Any queries, via WA please drop a line at +62 812 1115 5532 or via a direct message in IG: @kalaartdecor
Aksen Tiny House: Questionnaire
In Aksen’s design practice we are questioning a lot of what we know as ways of living in Indonesia. We look at customisable first houses, in the spirit of tiny houses. Most suited for individuals (but not limited to) between 20-30 years old. When maximising limited space takes priority. Personal preferences can be your design parameters which we are building an understanding systematically. If you have 10 minutes to spare, please contribute to our survey (only for Indonesians).
Update: on behalf of Aksen, I would like to say massive thank you for those who spent time on answering our questionnaire. We hit our target (and more) in less than two days. This would not happen without help of the community. We now close the data collection earlier than we planned. A sincere thank you from Jessica and myself.
Cardboard Architecture- just a thought!
My passion in combining more sustainable practice with the parametric design this time is externalised by this cardboard architecture. In daily basis we see the amount of card box we use to receive (and send) delivery. I am questioning the notion about reusable materials in a small scale. The sleeping hoop is inspired by Tina Hovsepian’s project, with an additional feature of my preference as a leisure camper. Geometry is generated in GH. Pictures were just provoked ideas.
Credit: Liu Zhenyan
KALA: Sept and October 2020 Events
I am pleased to report that KALA had busy couple of months 🙂 We joined two markets in September and two markets (including one virtual market) in October. KALA products are also in semi permanent display in Shanghai, in Eco Pop Up Shop @Upbund and the Eco Pop Up Shop @Daning, taking part of Eco Design Fair China’s community.
The Indonesia Fair (22-24 September 2020) was a memorable one as KALA was invited along with 8 other big Indonesian brands, those I grew up knowing about them. Such as Indomie, Kapal Api, etc. The event was organised by the Indonesian Consulate in Shanghai and ITPC (Indonesia Trade Promotion Centre) Shanghai.
KALA was also at the Health and Wellness Festival in Shanghai, the two-days home decor virtual market and the Eco Market @UpBund.
Call for Participants
Hi all, I am looking for two expert computational designers who are fluent on using Grasshopper. Details and more information can be found below:
KALA: an introductory video by me
I compiled a short video about KALA, an infant brand founded by myself and my sister Elza in 2020. Nowhere near a professional video, but this encompasses what we envisage KALA as a brand. It focuses on using natural materials in day-to-day products, contributing to small steps on the use of more sustainable materials as part of our daily life.
Inspirations come from time I spent in the nature in Ningbo particularly, the vast bamboo forests and mountains as we cycle, camp, hike during the weekends. Other inspirations also come from summer spent in the UK as my second home.
KALA is a subsidiary brand of our family company based in Indonesia and China, Aksen. Aksen celebrates its 19th year anniversary this year and I am heading the design branch in Ningbo, China and in Surabaya, Indonesia. We now operate in both countries, hoping to expand to the UK soon.
Happy World Bamboo Day!
Happy World Bamboo Day! Pic was taken by moi, at the Green Village (River House- me thinks). We had the BambooU farewell dinner there if I am not mistaken. My thought was, why don’t we do more of this exquisite architecture? Why did we not learn this in school?
ReLabs interview
I got a chance to visit Darren O Connell’s weekend sanctuary in Qingshan Village, an hour away by car from Hangzhou. A beautiful village where Darren envisages a unique experience of workout with fitness equipment made out of bamboo. Of course we did the bamboo workout!
Link to interview can be found here: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/3dlNChSI1PlN2b2MMYcF2g
Darren documents active interviews with entrepreneurs and inspiring people (and me). Here is a bit of me and my fascination with bamboo 
Did the interview a few days ago at Qingshan Village. Head to ReLabs Wechat account to have a read at the rest of interviews.
This village is also home to an amazing architecture firm Pinwu. Check out their Rongsheji Design Library, full of catalogs of craftsmanship.
