Tinawati

"Ideas come to me just by looking at a product or material. For me, the material will provide its own design; it will be able to find something unique."

"I was born in Jakarta on May 13, 1977 to a Chinese family. My Chinese name is Yang Xiu Ting, and my Indonesia name is Tinawati. I graduated from Atmajaya University with a degree in civil engineering.

"We love living here. Indonesia is a country rich in culture, art and history. We grew up amid diversity of culture and religions. Though I live in West Java, the differences within Indonesian traditions inspire me to design various jewelry styles. By combining many ethnicities, cultures and art traditions from Indonesia, I want to create special designs.

"My grandfather was a goldsmith and I loved to watch him making gold jewelry. I was in elementary school at the time, and my classmates and I loved to wear accessories. So I started to create simple accessories from materials like dried flowers and seeds, wire and plastic buttons just to impress my friends. I experimented with making perfect jewelries — sometimes my designs actually looked weird when worn by my friends. Once day, my little classmate looked really confident wearing my newest design, which was actually made for an adult and was too big for her.

"As a part of Chinese tradition during family gatherings, we usually give presents to younger family members, or money if they're married. I gave my new anklet or bracelet designs to my niece and nephew. Surprisingly, their mothers and aunties loved my creations and asked me to create more designs for them and their friends. I was so proud and happy to see people satisfied wearing my designs. That was the beginning of my jewelry workshop.

"I never give up. Even when my parents had financial problems. We just do the best we can and let God do the rest. Because of our economic problems, I had to seek and apply for scholarships to finish my college studies.

"My parents taught me about hard work, not to easily give up, and to share with others without seeing race or color. As human beings, we are equal in the eyes of God.

"I design my jewelry, buy all the materials required, then work with two skilled silversmiths to make my designs a reality. The hardest part in the process is translating my design from paper into ready-to-use jewelry. But I'm lucky to have their collaboration because they now understand what I want.

"As time went by, I learned to craft jewelry myself, but I began doing only designing and quality control, as I trust my silversmiths. Designing fashion and silver jewelry are a way of expressing the ideas inside my head. I could sit for hours to create a new design, and ideas come to me just by looking at a product or material. For me, the material will provide its own design; it will be able to find something unique.

"I prefer to use traditional silver tools to do crafting. I use wood, rubber, coconut shell, cow bone, precious and semiprecious stones in my jewelry, and I'm looking for other materials from this country which can be used,

"I'm a single woman. I know Novica from the Internet, and I discovered the site online. Wow! Novica is a great website which helps artisans around the world to promote and sell their creations. I'm glad to be here."