| Taking a personal approach to fashion |
| Thursday, March 19, 2009 |
Tulisan tentang Manik2Cantik di Jakarta Post:
Link: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/03/17/taking-a-personal-approach-fashion.html-0
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Nayu Novita , CONTRIBUTOR , JAKARTA | Tue, 03/17/2009 3:43 PM | Lifestyle
Looking good and fashionable means nothing without the right accessories - from a simple ring to a glamorous necklace studded with pearls and Swarovski crystal.
But getting the right accessories is a tricky business. Frequently, one can find an accessory that fits one's taste, but not one's pocket.
Members of Manik2 Cantik community group, whose name literally means beautiful beads, rise to this challenge by making their own accessories.
This online community of accessory lovers was established by Mia Gofar, a 35-year-old accessories designer and book writer. Since the online group's establishment in early 2007, the number of its members has continued to increase and it currently has more than 700 on the list.
Their products are proudly displayed on the group's website www.blog.manik-cantik.com.
There are flirtatious earrings made from colorful plastic beads, brooches from semi-pearls and rings studded with pastel-colored freshwater pearls.
If you want to learn accessory-making, you can see a short tutorial in the form of step-by-step pictures, useful for all beginners. But if you want to learn more complex techniques, just join up and become a member.
Every month, the group members routinely hold an internal workshop called M2C Beads Sunday to exchange knowledge. The workshops are usually based on discussions about trends and learning the different techniques involved in making accessories. At the workshops, skilled members are asked to become teachers.
Mia, who has so far published six books about jewelry-making using beads, and is currently living in Singapore, often visits Jakarta so that she can meet group members at the workshops.
Techniques frequently taught in the workshops include skills in jewelry-making, such as the techniques of simple stringing, wire working, seed bead working and wire crocheting.
"Wire style is the technique of making accessories using wire; usually this style of jewelry is more unusual and complicated. When you do seed bead work, the main material used is small sand beads. The technique employed can be weaving or sewing. Wire crochet is making jewelry using wire and applying the crochet technique," explained Mia.
You cannot only learn from your fellow members, you can also gain knowledge from special guests invited to these internal workshops. Mia said at the workshop in December 2008, the group had a special guest from Swarovski Indonesia and Swarovski Singapore who gave a presentation to all participants.
Apart from the routine workshops, to celebrate its first birthday last year, the group held a charity workshop for orphans.
"We invited along children from an orphanage to learn together how to make bracelets and brooches from beads . the children were very happy," Mia said.
The workshops have helped group members to improve their skills, as well as to produce jewelry for their own use; some members use their skills for business.
Retno Ekasari, 27, for example, who joined the group when it was first set up, used to sell bead bracelets to her friends on campus in 2000.
"At that time, I just did it for fun. But I realized its business potential when a friend bought a necklace I had made.
Since then, I started to deliver my work to friends for them to sell in their offices," said Retno, who has now become one of the moderators of the group's mailing list.
Together with other members of the group, or sometimes alone, Retno started to take part in bazaars and exhibitions to introduce her work. She then marketed her products online.
In the process, she did not only sell her jewelry, but also started selling equipment to make jewelry, such as beads, wire and thread. She now runs a jewelry-making course and employs a number of workers.
Mia, the owner of jewelry label Mia Gofar Jewelry, has marketed her work overseas. Mia's work often appears in articles about the hobby of jewelry-making using beads in overseas magazines.
Following Mia and Retno's path is not beyond reach.
According to Mia, the jewelry market sector is still wide open. Moreover, the situation is different from when she started to make bead accessories long ago; now, information on the subject has spread through magazines and books.
"As well as a casual hobby, this activity can also be useful to increase your income. For teenagers, it can become a source of pocket money. While for people who have a family, this can be an alternative source of income, without having to leave the children and go out to work," said Mia, who carries out her business of making accessories from home while looking after her three sons.
She said if you decided to establish a jewelry-making business, there were certain requirements that had to be met in order for the business to survive.
"The first is that you have to be able to read the market and its trends. The way to do this is by observing your customers' tastes, their reactions to your creations and by browsing on the Internet," Mia said.
"And the second requirement to produce accessories is that you must have a passion toward the jewelry you make. You shouldn't take part in this business just because you are influenced by trends or consider it easily done." |
posted by Mia @ 12:53 AM   |
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