ABIE ABDILLAH, INDONESIAN FURNITURE DESIGNER FROM STUDIO HIJI, COMBINES INDONESIAN CRAFT WITH AMERICAN HARDWOOD TO CREATE AN CONTEMPORARY FURNITURE DESIGN WITH A LOCAL VALUE
TEXT: AHEC
PHOTO COURTESY OF STUDIO PERIPHERY
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Bringing an American Touch to Indonesian Craftsmanship
Studio Hiji’s Abie Abdillah combines Indonesian craft with sustainable, premium materials
Indonesian designer Abie Abdillah, founder of esteemed Studio Hiji, has always believed in craftsmanship. He is known for working with highly skilled carvers to ensure the unique character of every piece of furniture he designs.
Abdillah explains, “Craftsmanship is what makes us Indonesian because we have an abundance of crafting talent and availability of materials. Making by hand brings different nuances, and that’s what differentiates us from mass-produced furniture using machines.”
Clover Table
To this end, he insists on working with small to medium workshops that emphasise hand-crafting over sophisticated machinery. Apart from producing better quality furniture he also views this as a means of contributing to the communities of craftsmen by supporting the workshops.
While Abdillah enjoys working with local Indonesian timbers, he has recently started to experiment more widely with American hardwood species including white oak and walnut. The timbers fit well with his focus on craftsmanship, “American hardwood is suitable for carving because it’s hard yet workable, allowing the craftsman to carve easily. They have found it easy to work with, resulting in us creating products using traditional principles to achieve a contemporary outcome”.
As he worked more with American species, Abdillah learnt about the positive environmental impact of the material. Trees are massive carbon stores and given the advanced management and processing capabilities that exist in the US, even when transported around the world, the timber arrives on foreign shores carbon negative. Generations of sustainable management and selective harvesting mean that more than one tree replaces every tree that is cut down. This addresses one of Abdillah’s strong concerns with local species; whilst he enjoys working with local materials, he is concerned about over-harvesting leading to depletion of the forest.
Furthermore, Abdillah has discovered strong commercial advantages in using American hardwood species for his designs, “We use several kinds of local wood in Indonesia but premium local woods are in increasingly short supply and are therefore very expensive. American hardwood is not only easily available, it is fairly priced. Also for me, given the certainty around the environmental credentials of American hardwoods, it is easier for me to obtain an export license for American hardwood than for local timber.”
Clover Table
Abdillah recently showcased his first collection featuring American hardwood at FIND – Design Fair Asia, a four-day furniture tradeshow at the iconic Marina Bay Sands Expo & Convention Centre in Singapore. The collection featured the Clover Table which combines the striking contrast of an American white oak top with solid American walnut legs.
Looking ahead to the future, Abdillah said, “I want to strengthen our positioning in the premium range so I have started this journey with American hardwoods. In future, I would like to experiment further combining American timbers with local materials. That to me is craftsmanship – using good materials from around the world and Indonesian craftsmen to maintain a local touch.”