Cover image of TAMPARA collection by AKSU based on Dayak culture (Photo credit: AKSU)

Nadira Suarga and Arintha Vysistha are the cofounders of AKSU. They met when they studied at BINUS Northumbria School of Design and they found a similar taste in fashion and art. They collaborated in creating a fashion line as a university project, debuted the first collection in Jakarta Fashion Week in 2017 before expanding the brand into a business when they graduated in 2018. 

In this episode of aNERDspective (our NERD talk show where we converse with amazing friends about their textile adventure and perspectives), we talked to the duo about the intersection of art, fashion and music as an approach to their design and promoting Indonesian culture and heritage. 

Note: This transcript has been edited for reading format.

Tony Sugiarta: Welcome Arintha and Nadira to today’s episode of aNERDspective. How are you guys doing?

We are doing good.

Where are you guys located right now?

Arintha Vysistha: I am in Jakarta.

Nadira Suarga: I am Nadira and I am currently in Bali.

I was looking through AKSU’s Instagram and website, and we are very interested in how you guys incorporate traditional textile concepts into your design. Not necessarily that you guys are using that textile itself, but the principle behind it. So, it is something that is very interesting for us and I would like to find out more.

Probably we can start with a little introduction about you and how you meet and the journey of AKSU.

My name is Arintha and Nadira is my partner. We are actually university classmates, we met at the university and we both go to BINUS Northumbria School of Design in Senayan, Jakarta.

AKSU actually started as our university project. We both go as Fashion Management majors in BINUS and AKSU started when we joined one of the school’s programs where, as a batch, we got the opportunity to join Jakarta Fashion Week. So, AKSU first debuted in Jakarta Fashion Week 2017. From that, we got good reviews from our friends and families.

Basically, we (both) have similar taste in fashion and art, so when we got together and made this brand I think we really just ‘clicked’ and our vision to make this brand into something more real and more serious, we decided to pursue it as a business when we graduated in 2018.

Our first collection was when we debuted in Jakarta Fashion Week when we were still students in university. Then we got busy with the thesis, etc., so we got into business aspects when we graduated. That is a bit about how we met.

So, the brand as business started in about 2018?

Yes, around that.

What does AKSU means?

AKSU stands for Akar Suara, akar means ‘roots’, which translates how we were really influenced by the roots of Indonesian culture and heritage. Not only that but also nature, arts, and all those things that we are inspired by. Suara means ‘voice’, which means what pieces that we make and what we do as a project, like collaborations, it can be a voice of self-expression. That’s what it means.

So, it is all about self-identity and expressing that?

We actually have these three values: Expression in art, Curiosity in nature, Pleasure in music.

So, these three key points are what we always implement in our collections and the brand always stays true to these key points which basically talks about art: expression in art, in terms of culture, travel, emerging local artists. Nature which means in terms of Indonesia as a country that is very diverse, very big, and very rich in nature. Music means that we are also inspired by music. (Other than) the identity of AKSU, these three values describe our market, which is expressive, has high curiosity, and at the same time, like to be laid back and take the pleasure in music.

Our three main values are: Expression in art, Curiosity in nature, and Pleasure in music. We always implement in our collections and stay true to these values.

Are you guys like those people as well?

Basically, yes. We could know what our market wants or needs.

In a more practical point of view, how does those three values translate into your design, if you can give some examples?

In terms of our pieces?

In terms of how you approach the design.

In terms of inspiration, for example our latest collection, Bali Aga. In terms of the art, we look at the textiles, colours or the stripes. In terms of nature, we not only see the culture but also the environment as well, then we implement it to the design. In terms of music, sometimes we make content on Instagram or media platforms, we really like to incorporate music, as an example in our last event, we invited musical performances.

Like traditional gamelan and contemporary dance performance. For the collection itself, we also incorporate the design from the story of the Bali Aga tribe. We do not only include the design from their arts or traditional cloth making, but we research (about) the tribe. We have interviews, so we also learn about their behaviours and their traditions. Then from their stories, we incorporate it into the designs and we make it more contemporary. So, it is actually a long process, but we always enjoy it because we love history and Indonesian cultures.

That sounds like a very interesting process. Probably we can use the Bali Aga example on the creative process, so you mention that you did a little bit of research and how do you process it into fashion design?

Our collection from our research on Mentawai and Bali Aga tribes are the most challenging. For the Mentawai collection, I went to the tribe itself and stayed with the tribe for four days and I took notes on their behaviours, habits, and everything. For example, in Mentawai they have a famous tattoo technique called Titi. It is not only famous but also their culture is endangered because of illegal logging. From that, we take notes and usually we include patterns of the tattoos and their meaning, we incorporate it into the designs of the clothes.

For Bali Aga, how long did we research ya, Rin?

We actually visited twice and I joined her (Nadira) on the second (trip). So for her, it is twice and for me, it is once. We stayed for a few days. As for Bali Aga, we really uplift more about their philosophy because we found from our research that the Bali Aga have this philosophy about balance which is really interesting and relatable to how the condition is right now in the world. It is like a life lesson about balance, how to be more equal among all living things, between human and nature. So, instead of only looking at the static, like textiles, costumes, or traditional clothing, we always aim to see deeper and have stories such as this philosophy about balance and we implement it into the shapes of our clothing, like the silhouettes, we have a symmetrical proportion that translates balance. For example, the right and left body is symmetrical.

We do not always apply textiles. If you can see in our collections, sometimes just regular fabrics that we found. For Bali Aga we use fabric from Bali, the natural dye (textile).

What we use for Bali Aga is a fabric that we bought in Bali from a natural dye company, Tarum Bali. We have not implemented the traditional textiles but instead we use their philosophy into it. In a more literal implementation, we still use silhouettes of a kebaya. So, we try to mix it up.

So, we have stories for people to enjoy and to know more about the history of the tribe that we help to uplift and also the aesthetic side that we design.

Because we want people to see the story not only from the outline but also what our research has exposed us to. On our website, we always describe all the inspiration and basically we want people to also know the story not only from the clothes.

How long does the whole process take, from research to launching?

About six months.

It is pretty fast.

We also have to keep up with our launching schedule plan.

We are not sure what specific date when we started, so sometimes we cicil (we do it little by little).

Like… accumulate it.

For (example), now we start about what our future collection would be but we start in the next few months.

You mentioned about art, nature, and music to gather all your inspirations. I can see that art and nature, how does the music come in?

Well, it is a bit tricky, but we always incorporate when we research, for example indigenous tribe like Bali Aga or Mentawai, we always include (them) in the marketing. For example, in the contents, we include traditional music that they have into our contents. So people also can know all of these traditional music. Even people in Indonesia, they do not really know what is Mentawai and to make people know more about this tribe is also our mission.

We also have AKSU tunes. We have marketing content, like features in Instagram and one of them is AKSU tunes. We gather playlist and mixtapes to increase awareness of local artists/musicians. Basically, we make this AKSU’s tunes and sometimes we post it on our feed. It is a part of our marketing or Instagram content to strengthen our identity as a brand.

Also, we have this AKSU feature. It is another Instagram content that features interesting articles that revolve around expression in arts, curiosity in nature, and pleasure in music. So, sometimes we expose these features and articles about Indonesian music, musicians and stuff.

I really like that you give it a new dimension in how people experience fashion. It is not just about textiles and silhouettes, but also pleasure in listening to music.

That is actually our ideal, our goal. We do not want AKSU just a fashion brand, but also a creative platform. So, that is why sometimes marketing content does not necessarily feature fashion or clothing, but also news or everything that revolves around our key values.

How do the two of you work together, because both of you design the collection together, so who is in charge of what and what is the synergy like?

Basically we do everything together, we help each other because it Is just the two of us, we are still surviving. Arintha is actually more to the sketching and design, I am also in charge of developing the design. So, first of all Arintha always starts with sketches, then we develop it together. I am more to the marketing side and social media.

Sometimes for sketching, we both do it together, and combine our sketches. We decide and develop together. I usually do the production stuff and Nadira will handle the marketing.

For field research, sometimes I went to the place by myself or vice versa. Or if we have a chance to do it together then we will do it together. So, always DIY.

Spill the tea, how often do you guys quarrels? *laughter*

Not really, I think we are compatible.

I think we both have a really good synergy together.

That is really lucky. Who would be your target audience?

Again, our target audience basically is the young-adult market with high curiosity and adventure.

How are their responses so far to your collections?

I think people that buy our clothes are the market we are picturing AKSU (to be). It is really proven that the people who have been buying our clothes, have these traits that we describe. They have a unique taste of fashion and they love music. These people are who keep buying our stuff and are interested in our contents.

With (regards to) the different stories, collaborating with different artists/musicians and stuff, how are their responses for your guys?

It has been a very positive response. The market reviews are important to us and thankfully so far they really admire how we have a strong identity that we can maintain a consistent identity for the brand and how we always keep having new and diverse inspiration, not only culture.

For example, for our last collection that we did with Sumbu, which is a sustainable brand, we made bucket hat collection and help Orang Utan survival organisation. So, people see AKSU can be a social platform as well, not only culture and art, but it also can influence people to care about the environment, animals, and staying true to our roots that we always want to uplift Indonesia as a whole culture, art, and nature.

When you are doing such collaborations, what do you look for in the collaborator?

We look for the same values. We collaborate with a brand, company, or organisation, we expect that we have the same value and also their enthusiasm in working to uplift Indonesia’s rich culture, tradition, nature, art, and so on. Because we are not limiting what we are creating together and also a mutual support to being into a sustainable brand. We expect from collaborations, those main three key points that AKSU has which is to live our values in arts, culture and nature also in music that are based in Indonesia, and we hope to have collaborations with brands, companies, or organizations that have the same values as we do.

One of the latest collections that I saw is the Bali Aga Collection that was featured in the Paris Fashion Week for Spring/Summer 2021. How do you guys feel about that?

We are very thrilled. Because of this pandemic, we were supposed to go to Paris for the Paris Fashion Week, but they postponed it to this year. So hopefully we could go to Paris this year for the real live fashion show. Instead, the last virtual pre-recorded fashion show, we ship our collection to Paris and then they pre-recorded in the venue. We are very happy to have that experience. Hopefully we can go to Paris this year. 

If you are going over, I guess you will be going with your new collections, right?

We are going to make new collections.

Yes, but we are going to still use the Bali Aga concept and story, but a more avant-garde and premium version. So, actually AKSU also has a premium and the casual collection that we made so there is AKSU casual and AKSU premium. The casual is more to the basic collection, basic cut. For the premium, we targeted different target markets as well. It is more for the 30s to 40s. 

In terms of price range, the casual is more affordable. As for the premium we want to make pieces that are more intricate. We have more handmade details, so in terms of pricing, it is higher.

Every year we choose one theme, one culture and for that one culture we make two main collections, but in between we do mini capsule collections and collaboration.

Do only the two of you who do the production, or do you work with (others)? 

We have a third party.

It seems that you have a good response to your collections. If you could share with me some of the challenges that you have while running AKSU? 

Challenges may be in terms of sometimes interpreting the stories and culture of Indonesia. It is a challenge for us because we really want to dive not only into the aesthetic and the textiles, but we always aim to dive into their stories and philosophies and sometimes it is more intangible. So it is like to translate it into something that is tangible, that is more as a shape. It is a challenge, but we always research more. How we overcome it is just basically that we have to research a lot and we have to have really high imagination and creativity.

Aside from that, we also have challenges in scheduling our launching because we still have to develop our collection more, in terms of the variety of the products. We wanted to have more varieties in products so people could see our collection more and not just repeated collection. 

In terms of operations, maybe because our team is still very small. It is a challenge that we have to do it all by ourselves. We really need extra help. That is why collaborations, I think, is also another good way that we can have more people involved, not just us.

Also, it is beneficial towards our awareness of the brand itself. 

We really want to dive not only into the aesthetic and the textiles, but we always aim to dive into their stories and philosophies. We want to translate it into something that is tangible, that is more as a shape.

I understand in terms of productions and getting people to (work) and scheduling. How big is the volume of your collection?

Not that big. One main collection usually has 12 designs.

Those are for both the casual and the premium collections?

Casual 12 designs, premium maybe also 10 or 12 designs.

I think that is a lot. *laughter*

But the stock is not that much.

So probably a few pieces for each design?

Yeah, it seems a lot because we always try to make for three – unisex, women and men. So actually in terms of just women it is not much, maybe just only two or three designs and men also two or three designs and one design for unisex.

We also want to prove that we are not a fast fashion brand, so we want people to feel more special by wearing and buying our collection which is why we aim to produce limited pieces. 

(From our perspective,) aNERDgallery is almost (fully working on) researching stuff, so I guess we can possibly collaborate together in terms of researching culture. That is very interesting because I myself is Balinese but I have not delved into Bali Aga culture a lot.

Not everyone knows about Bali Aga’s specifically. They are all described as Bali so that is why we choose that. We do not only want to uplift Bali as a whole but we want to make it specific.

But I saw in your wall, it is a Bali Aga fabric, tenun gringsing. 

So you went there to stay as well or you just do the trips? 

Just day trips.

Nadira, are you based in Bali? Are you originally from there?

No, I am Javanese. But I go back and forth because we are actually having the exhibition. AKSU is having a collaboration exhibition in Bali right now, in T Lofts, a new place called T Lofts. Actually the exhibition is going to end on 24th of April, so I’m going to be here controlling the exhibition and greeting people and Arintha is in Jakarta because she has to do the production for AKSU. 

I am also very interested your latest project at T Lofts. Can you share a little bit more about what is happening there?

Actually AKSU is a guest curator of this online art gallery called Cakravala. They invited us as a guest curator for the event so we have the art exhibition in T Lofts and it has been going since 3rd April to 24th April, the closing event is on 17th. 

The exhibition invited six artists from Jakarta, Bandung, Bali and Yogya. We have visual artists and there is one photographer from Jakarta so we sell the artworks in T Lofts and it is still available right now for gallery viewing. It has been great as this experience for AKSU and Cakravala because we get to explore and curate the event together. Actually AKSU has not had experience in making an art exhibition so it is really interesting for us to meet new people on the opening event.

It is a new experience for us. Again, it is another value from AKSU, Expression in Art. It is a good stepping stone for AKSU to start focusing more on art, like visual arts, and increasing awareness of emerging artists and Indonesia.

Actually we are going to invite The Bali Aga tribe to T Lofts for the closing event on 17th. They are going to demonstrate their weaving technique and also they are going to bring someone to practice making the lontar. So people who are going to T Lofts, they are going to see the process and they are going to tell stories about the lontar and the Gringsing fabric. For us, it is going to be a cultural experience and for the audience as well. 

It is also a cultural experience, as Nadira said. The title of this collaboration is called Vaitasa, as the concept. Vaitasa means to adapt. So the concept is also influenced by the condition of the past year, (which is) the pandemic. As a concept, we tell the artists that we are curating to make pieces that narrate how they cope with the situation. So this artwork basically has an inspiration based on that.

AKSU as a guest curator, we also want to incorporate the Bali Aga culture. That is why as Nadira said, we have this part of our closing and activation from the tribe to visit T Lofts as a closing. We implemented again their philosophy in balance and how it connects to finding peace in this harrowing time in the past year. So as a concept, Vaitasa revolves around that for our collaboration.

How does the collaboration happen in the first place? Because I think it is very random that a fashion brand works with a curator to come up with an art event. 

First of all, Cakravala is owned by our friend and they saw our previous exhibition, it is called Tinemu in Jakarta. We also have this little exhibition that showcases our premium collection which is inspired by the Solo culture. From there Cakravala team saw that AKSU can curate the event, the exhibition and the experience of culture. So they are interested in collaborating with us and making AKSU as their guest curator.

I think they also recognise how we have this value as a brand that wants to uplift emerging artists. So I think it connects with them and just to combine our market, broaden our exposure to different markets. I think they also want to be exposed to our market and AKSU wants to be exposed to their market as well which we are really hoping that it works.

You mentioned that it is kind of a new territory for you, so what have you taken away from the experience?

It has been really interesting. We got a lot of new experiences in curating art and pricing for artworks, meeting new people, I think. When we held the opening event, we were exposed to very different markets in terms of people who are really interested in artworks. But I think that we have somehow this mutual (connection) where their market fits our market.

Arintha, were you in Bali during the opening?

I was in Bali for two weeks, one week before the event and one week after the opening.

As a collaboration, I think as AKSU, we want to pursue it in the future as well. As an independent brand, we also want to sell artwork in the future as well, as a (way) for us to help these emerging artists. So it is a very good lesson for us, to dive with them in which they have more experience than us. So we can learn a lot as well.

Yeah, I am definitely looking forward to what you have because I think it works similarly with aNERDgallery as well. We want to promote Indonesian textile arts and it is not about culture and heritage but also to give a more humanized story, like the people behind them, the makers and how it is being used in contemporary art settings. So not just seeing textile as a batik or tenun, but how artists actually respond to that which has been a very interesting journey as well. I would see a potential collaboration sometime in the future.

Finally, before we close off the conversation, what are the upcoming projects that we can expect from AKSU in the near future?

We have this collection for Fashion Week for this year and we also have a collaboration with a sound and visual arts label. 

Again, that is our Pleasure in Music. In the future.. And that is why we can’t really say a lot about the collaborators. That is what we are working on.

We are going to surprise you.

Will be looking forward to it. Are you researching any new culture (for the next few months)?

Not yet. I think we are still working on Bali Aga first. Because there is postponement or delay on the Paris Fashion Week, so our timeline had to adjust to that postponement and also (due to) the pandemic and stuff. So maybe we will begin to research new culture in the end of the year or the next year. It is still a long way.

So it is still exploring Bali Aga for this year, at least?

For this year, at least. Maybe for the next few months, we will make collaborations or mini collections, which really have to be limited to Bali Aga. For example, the bucket hat collection. It is entirely not related to Bali Aga because it is a separate collection. It is our capsule collection that was inspired by orang utan.

Capsule collection is like a mini collection that we want AKSU not limited to a system of annual collections, so we can explore more with collaborating with different brands, different public figures, like artists and everything. Maybe (that is) what we will be doing in the next few months as well.

What is your closing statement to the fans out there to sum up this discussion?

As AKSU stands for self-expression, we want everyone to stay true to yourself and stay true to your roots wherever you are. Express it, embrace it and do not stop to create something, be creative, especially in this pandemic situation (when you are overthinking). So just be productive every second, every time, and make yourself happy. 

Do what you love, do what you enjoy. I think it is important that you work on something that you really enjoy doing. So it is not like work, it is not a burden. You really have to make your brand consistent and make your brand have a strong identity. That is why we have to be consistent and maintain it.

Most of all, if you have a brand, just be patient because everything (works out) slowly but surely. Enjoy the process. 

Thank you so much for dropping by today. I learnt a lot and I am really looking forward to what you guys coming up next because it is very promising and I really love talking to younger designers with all their fresh ideas and the excitement to promote Indonesian textile arts. Thank you again. 

We hope you enjoyed this episode of aNERDspective. Check out the previous episode on IGTV and our gallery and store if you would like a piece of Indonesia for your home or wardrobe. You may also check out  AKSU’s website or Instagram for the latest collection.

Photo credit: AKSU, unless stated otherwise.