Students from KADK are working together with a Danish furniture manufacturer and local Indonesian manufacturers in a project that is converting a native Indonesian plant into an Indonesian export success. In the project, Danish furniture students working together with SIKA Design have developed a range of prototypes. As part of their tour of Indonesia from 21 to 24 October 2015, HM Queen Margrethe and the Danish Foreign Minister paid a visit to the project, where the Queen expressed her great interest and pride in Danish design capabilities. Danish companies are currently making significant inroads into Indonesia’s gigantic export market.
Danish state television (DR) was there when SIKA and the Danish furniture students presented the project to the royal couple and the foreign minister:
Danish knowledge of furniture design and architecture meets local Indonesian knowledge of rattan when 14 students from the undergraduate programme in furniture design at KADK create projects using rattan at a design workshop in Jakarta organised by the Indonesian design institute ICAD. The projects are the results of a collaboration with the Danish rattan-furniture manufacturer SIKA Design, which manufactures furniture in its own factories in Indonesia.
“We are out here with seven teams, each comprising two students. An Indonesian worker helps each team to create a prototype of their chair. It is simply fantastic and we are thrilled,” explains KADK Associate Professor Nicolai de Gier, who is one of the main instigators of the partnership.
Before visiting Indonesia, the Danish students developed furniture prototypes using plastic electrical-conduit tubing electric in Denmark, and then, once in Indonesia, recreated these in rattan together with local manufacturers. The factory and producers in Indonesia learn from the young designers, and in this way KADK is not only developing new export opportunities but also supporting the community.
About the project
This project focuses on co-operation and knowledge sharing across cultural and geographical barriers, with the emphasis on the process of working with the Indonesian rattan plant in both Denmark and Indonesia. Using material samples, experiments, sketches, drawings, scale models, mock-ups and 1:1 prototypes, the students in design workshop show the results of a seven-week workshop. At this workshop, the Danish students work with local manufacturers and SIKA to further develop their prototypes and to begin production of their full range of furniture.
The students from KADK were invited to the workshop and exhibition in Indonesia after exhibiting their first prototypes at the 2015 Milan Trade Fair.
The project is a collaboration between the Danish furniture company SIKA Design, Asmindo and KADK.
