“THE FURNITURE THAT PORTRAYS THE RICHNESS OF INDONESIAN CULTURE”

During the pandemic, furniture is one of the sectors that recover quickly because people spend a lot of time at home so people tend to organize their homes. In addition, during the pandemic, people cannot travel abroad because of the emergence of a domestic traveling trend. Also, the lack of information and interest of the younger generation in Indonesian culture is still a problem. One way to overcome this problem is to introduce Indonesian culture. So that Sumba becomes an inspiration for furniture. The Sumba data search was carried out by searching for data in journals, surveys, market research and making direct visits to the feld. The aim of this study was to design some furniture that was made for a living room consisting of a coffee table, sofa, tv credenza, side table, and lounge chair. The inspirations taken are traditional houses, the beauty of Mandorak beach, palm baskets, and horses in the Pasola tradition. So that the design of this furniture displays the richness of Indonesian culture, but still with a minimalist, contemporary and modern style.

The results of this research shows that the community is interested in the concept of Sumba. The concept of its culture made into furniture with a contemporary minimalist style to suit the target market. Cultural elements that will be appointed as living room furniture products include the structure of the traditional Sumbanese house, the color of the wood, and the concept of furniture using rattan rope and the shapes that look solid but still rounded at the end of the furniture. In addition, it combines elements found in the daily life of the Sumbanese people, such as lontar baskets and then horses because horses can not be separated by the people of Sumba. Besides that, Mandorak Beach in Sumba was also inspiring for its famous shape of stones that facing each other.

Sumba traditional houses, Mandorak Beach, lontar baskets, and Pasola horses are the main inspirations of these furniture designs.

In Sumba culture, the heart of the Sumbanese is depicted in the center of the house which is a freplace that is usually located in the living room. Therefore, this study designs some furniture that is usually located in the living room.

First, Uma Coffee table design takes inspiration from the rectangular freplace in a traditional Sumbanese house. The freplace is usually located in the middle of a traditional Sumbanese house which is usually used for cooking and gathering together. The shape of this table is also inspired by the shape of a traditional house that resembles a trapezium. Second, Uma sofa design was inspired by the shape of the Sumba traditional house. The people of Sumba use mahogany as basic material and also use rattan rope as a bond between structures. In addition, the design of the sofa is also inspired by rattan which is likened to the veins of the Sumbanese and the inspiration for the pillars in a traditional Sumbanese house is likened to their ribs. Third, Mandorak tv credenza design is also inspired by the shape of the Sumba traditional house, with a trapezoid-like design as inspiration from the Sumba roof and horizontal elements as the foor in a traditional house. The design is also inspired by the shape of the stone on the Mandorak beach that facing each other and the cream colored table that symbolizes the beach sand. Fourth, Lontar side table design is in the theme of the living room table which is inspired by a traditional house, but for the side table, the inspiration is from the lontar basket. Fifth, the inspiration that was taken for the design of the Pasola lounge chair is the horse. Horses are part of the life of the Sumba people and also a means of transportation. Other than that, accents such as the backrest of the chair were inspired by the Pasola war. So the Pasola war uses horses and they throw spears at each other. So the spears were the inspiration for the chair backrest accent.