On Getting Familiar with the Unknown: A Feature
I’m pleased that T&DON, a Jakarta-based platform providing expert creative consulting and training services focused on presentation skills, has featured me in an article published on their platform. The article is part of ‘Apa Rasanya,’ a section where T&DON covers presentation experiences from people of various backgrounds.
In November 2024, I had the incredible opportunity to present Grafis Nusantara at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano (UniBZ) in Italy. This was part of a broader trip that also included Grafis Nusantara’s first in-person participation at the Sprint Milano art book fair. The experience was both exhilarating and nerve-wracking, marking a significant milestone in our journey of archiving and sharing Indonesian graphic design & visual culture with the world.
The UniBZ invitation to speak was unexpected. It started with a spontaneous Instagram chat between me and Andreas, a lecturer for the graphic design major who had ever visited our studio in Jakarta. What began as a casual conversation about design soon became an invitation to be part of a micro-conference on "Archival Practices in Graphic Design."
I've never liked public speaking, let alone presenting abroad. The mix of excitement and fear was choking at first. I had to get past my fear of the unknown—what would the audience be like? Would the language barrier be difficult? But when I began to speak, I realized that design and storytelling have a universal language. The connections we’ve built through Grafis Nusantara proved that there’s an eager global audience for Indonesian graphic design history.
This experience made me think about how important it is to take chances and accept atypical opportunities. It reminded me that while our work is intricately woven within Indonesian culture, its relevance transcends our shores. The thoughtful questions following my presentation were laced with curiosity and interest in the contribution archives can make in shaping design history.
Presenting in Italy was a reminder that graphic design is more than aesthetics—it's a cultural bridge. And even though this was our first presentation outside the archipelago, I don't hope it will be the last.
If you'd like to read about the entire experience, read more here, or check out their Instagram post below. The article is written in Indonesian.