UNS – Starting from a hobby to comment on design, the alumnus of Architectural Engineering Program Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta, Arleta Rachma Wibowoputri won the Trophy Design Good Design Indonesia (GDI) Contest 2020. The GDI Trophy contest was assessed by three jury team: Jacob Silas Mussry (Deputy Chairman Mark Plus Inc.), Adhi Nugraha (Aliansi Desainer Produk Industri Indonesia-Alliance for Indonesian Industrial Product Designer), and Joko Dwi Avianto (Sculptor).
GDI is a national scale award given to the best design works in Indonesia. This program is managed by the Directorate General of National Export Development (Direktorat Jenderal Pengembangan Ekspor Nasional – DJPEN), the Ministry of Trade of the Republic of Indonesia, since 2017. In 2020, GDI opens an opportunity for the Indonesian people to participate in the development of trophy for GDI 2020.
The student who was active at the Urban-Rural Design and Conservation Laboratory (URDC Labo) was interested in participating in a design competition held by GDI. Etta, the nickname of Arletta Rachma Wibowoputri, saw this competition as an opportunity to breaking designs that have often been issued by government events. As in the 2018 Asian Games logo design, where the initial design launched by the government was considered too old-fashioned and less attractive for present-day events.
Designing a trophy is an unusual activity for her because so far, as an architect, she is more familiar with the large-scale design, while trophy design has a small scale. In the development process, Etta was inspired by torch. A symbol of celebration and success, as well as a bright light for the continuity of success as one of the philosophies to be conveyed.
GDI is an intermediary competition. The winner of this competition will get an opportunity to compete in the next stage at the Good Design Award (G-Mark) in Tokyo, Japan. Considering this process, Etta said that winning GDI is not the highest award in a design achievement. There is a follow-up process which opens the way for a product designed to promote and take responsibility in contributing to the advancement of design in Indonesia.
“I prefer to design by considering the philosophy instead of the form. The form is also important, but philosophy is more meaningful,” Etta said to uns.ac.id on Wednesday (13/5/2020)
One of the requirements from GDI for the trophy design is that the design has to represent the vision of GDI which is not just a mere design arena but a platform for local products to reach the global market. Local values always become an ornament in every competition conducted by the government. In general, the local ornament always visualized by the community in the form of batik or another well-known local component.
However, according to the architect who now works in Jakarta, the local value can also be translated in the selection of product material. This is what Etta did. She selected marble as a local material and collaborate with the local artisans to work on the trophy. Thus, it will empower Indonesian people to contribute to the event. Humas UNS/Ratri