Fairventures is a NGO based in Stuttgart (Germany) which is engaged in reforestation in Kalimantan. Together with local partners Fairventures helps farmers to grow Lightwood species like Sengon and Jabon. To include all stakeholders along the value chain of Lightwood Fairventures is organizing events like the ILCF or is collaborating with schools like PIKA to develop the sensitivity for Lightwood. These activities should end into a more added value generating Lightwood sector.
The first Fairventures Furniture Competition at PIKA was carried out in August 2016. In total eleven groups consisting of three students from the PIKA Akademia Interior Design and one student from PIKA Akademia Furniture designed and built a bench from the first scratch to a finished product.
After a kick off event the students got three mornings time to design the bench. They prepared their technical drawings and bill of material for the construction week. One of these mornings they also got a design input from Dennis Pluemer (SANTAI Furniture) to get an idea how a professional works.
The available variety of material was limited. All kinds of Sengon wood products and bananatree rope where the only materials in use. No screws where aloud, only glue! The students mastered these challenges very well and brought out finally eleven wonderful Lightwood benches.
The final products where then examined by a Jury consisting of Laurent Corpataux (Fairventures Indonesia), Dennis Pluemer (SANTAI Furniture), Antonius Sugianto (PIKA Technical Academy), Chr. Peni Sekundiana (PIKA Technical Academy) and Robertus Krismanto (PIKA Technical Academy). The Jury evaluated a winner (4 Mio. IRP), second (2,5 Mio. IRP) and third place (1 Mio. Rupiah) due to different criteria. Not only the design was crucial, also an important role was given to the weight of the bench. It had to hold the weight of three people about 200kg in total. Further the relation to Javanese design must have been visible.
Coffee-Grinder the winner bench had the honor to be shown at the 31st TradExpo in Jakarta. Some of the benches can still be seen in the store at PIKA Semarang.
