Profile: Lydia Parengkuan

Lydia Parengkuan has always had an interest in the world of design and the arts. Having worked in Advertising and further pursuing her studies in fashion product development, she then found her way to become the creative director of Tulisan. I talked to her about how she was able to explore her craft in this dynamic brand.

Can you tell us your role in Tulisan?

I am the creative director here. Basically I set the creative direction for the brand.

How would you explain your daily routine?

I don’t have the same routine. But my design process starts from brainstorming with Melissa (founder of Tulisan), then we would start the design, revise it, until we narrow down the direction, and find the finalize the artwork before we finally make the mechanical file. The artwork is then given to the vendors and have it ready for print. Meanwhile, we would ask for quotations to know how much the specs would cost. We would have to think in economically terms, how to minimize waste on the printing – that is also something we need to think about from the start.

So what you do encompasses both design and technical aspect. Can you explain your design process?

Normally we start with sketching. From the sketches, we would make diagrams and develop logotype. We explore the fonts according to the look and direction by experimenting a lot.

Where do you gather your inspiration?

It could be from everywhere. But for color, we pick it up from the fashion trend forecasting, which normally is a future prediction of the trends ahead, we now can preview the spring and summer trends of the year 2014.

We see the colors available and adapt this again, if there is green, we find a shade that is more suitable to Tulisan. We have to adjust to see what feel we are going for, whether it is whimsical, playful, or passionate.

What is the most enjoyable thing about working in Tulisan?

There is endless of possibilities. Here we can go crazy with our imagination, even though when it comes to execution, we, of course, have to narrow it down. But we can be as wild and playful as we want to be. Anything is possible here, and we would only compromise a little to make it work.

What is your greatest achievement here?

I have learned a lot of the technical aspect from Melissa. I love designing, but during execution, we need to understand the specification of production, and learn from other colleagues on how they craft their work.

What else do you want to explore in Tulisan?

There is a lot I want to explore in. I want to develop the brand guidelines and also learn about brand retail and visual merchandising.

What is your favorite Tulisan product?

I like the club tote. For the collection I like Ruba’iyat of Amma Supahilo.

What’s your favorite activity outside of Tulisan?

Traveling. I still would love to visit Cape Town, South Africa.

What is the most exciting thing for you in Jakarta?

Just being around my family and friends.

– Athina Ibrahim