TAFFA
Master Tuareg Smith | Agadez
The Tuareg Forgeron
The Youngest Sibling of a typically numerous Agadez family , learned his Metière from his father. So did even his other brother’s Hamid and Abda. What the work itself concerns , Taffa is curious , attentive , a great listener , reflective , and with an extraordinary capability for transforming ideas and simple sketchs drawn on the scarces pieces of paper around , into sometimes impressively clean works of art.
- Incredibly creative
- Shaping Metals by hammering
- First quality Tuareg engravings
PAK LENJU
Master Silversmith | Bali
The silversmith that loves to fish and make kites.
Lenju made his first ring when he was 10 years old. He didn’t sell it. He put it on his fingers for his school friends to see. The plan worked: They started to order rings and he began working as ‘’Tukan’’ in the same desk that his brothers have been using, in the family house where he still lives. He used to buy food at school with the money he earned.
- Best engravings in metal
- Balls decoration
- Ingenious techniques
IPAN
Stone setter | Lumajang
From a tailor’s family of Lumajang. The stone setter that built his own career.
Ipan’s destiny seemed to be to become a tailor. His family sewed and fix clothes in Lumajang, the town where he was born in 1986. But when he was in secondary school, at the age of 14, a neighbor start teaching him how to make silver chains, the specialty of that locality in East java. Like many of Indonesian teenagers, he needed the money so he left school and started to work. For 4 years he was learning from the town smiths but he knew that Bali was the place where the most known artists were and he wanted to gain experience.
- Stone setting
- Precision work
- Silent and Focused
KEDY
GOLD SPECIALIST & WIRE WORK
Meticulous and patient. Passionate about his work.
Kedy’s children has no time to sit beside his table and learn how to do a pair of earrings as he did. Now, they have many school hours, they practice sports and learn English. But his own childhood was crossed by 3 things: help his father in the rice fields, race cocks for the religious ceremonies and develop the skills to become a ‘’tukan’’. He started helping the others, especially his uncles, his father did not see well and he had no choice but to work in the fields. At the age of 11 he finished his first pair of earrings with the help of a neighbor….
- Gold specialist
- Wire work and filigree
- Forever Smile
HAMID
Tuareg Smith | Niamey
He arrives silently every morning, wrapped in his Tuareg robes. Equally silent he starts to prepare the Chai. He smokes his cigarette. He greets with a suffered smile. After a short prière, he places his “bench” supported against the enclume, he files the point of his old screwdriver and after exclaiming … “Bismillah!” he starts to engrave the dedicatedly hammered and polished 100% pure Silver pieces. He works so silently that sometimes I wonder where He is. Taking a break just just for the chai or the prière, he focuses his tiny fully self in his work. A model of Concentration and Presence. That is, among other things, our Dear and Most Veteran Smith, Hamid.
- Most veteran Tuareg Smith
- He makes exquisite engravings
- Model of Concentration and Presence
HISYAM
Lock Specialist | Gresik
Since he was 9, Hisyam started to stand out by the strokes of his brush in his school in Gresik, in the oriental part of java. He painted trees, animals, volcanos and the sea. At that time he didn’t knew he was going to make his living through his artistic skills. It was most probable that he end up working in the fish factory, as his father. He even tried that, but wasn’t for him. He also worked in the paper factory, learn how to fix motorbikes and worked as decorator for parties. When he was 19, he moved to Denpasar, Bali. He didn’t know anything about bracelets or rings. He remembers that it was hard to learn, maybe because he was very obsessive and wanted to know each step in depth….
- Lock specialist
- Mechanism creator
- Obbsesive with perfection
DEWA
Master Wax Carver | Ubud
A painter creating wax masterpieces
During his childhood in Ubud, Dewa Putu Dewantara played at being a paintor. His father and other family members sold little paintings in which they portrayed rice fields, landscapes an the most beautiful Bali birds. when he put down the brush, he ran away with his friends to catch the eels that camouflage themselves between the mud and the water of the rice paddies. They cooked them for dinner.
Unlike many artisans that started to work being teenagers, Dewa continue studying. He did an art degree because he thought he would be a painter. He tried but it was hard to sell his work. In 2002 his life changed for two reasons: he got married with Ida Ayu Pusparini, with whom he has 3 teenager daughters and the Bali Terrorist Bombing occurred and Bali’s economy cracked.
- Efficient and creative wax carver
- He prints his own character on each piece
- Good translation of ideas from paper to wax
Darta
Master Wax Carver Tangkas
From carving, sculptures and intricated doors to tinny works of art in wax.
From Tangkas, a village in southeast Bali, when Darta was a kid, he standed out for short distance running. While he was helping his father with the animals in the farm, he competed in regional races. Whenever he had free time he spend it in the river, fishing and swimming. At the age of 15, his parents couldn’t afford his school so he decided to find a job in Gianyar area. The first rupees were earned making wood handicrafts. With the time his work evolved: he learned to carve doors and wood sculptures.
When he was 24, one of his brothers taught him how to make jewellery. The first one was a necklace. With the years he gained experience and he was accepted in silver workshops, but the jobs fluctuate at the rhythm of an uncertain demand. Meanwhile he began to specialize in wax carving for jewellery.
- Most difficult and long projects
- Extreme quality engravings
- Great ability to transform a drawing in 3D
