Habibie Festival is an anual event, held by BeKraf (Creative Economy Agency of Indonesia), and Berkarya!Indonesia, a movement or organization to encourage young people of Indonesia to innovate, to create, and take part in education and technology fields, founded by B.J Habibie, President of Indonesia from 1998 to 1999. Habibie Festival 2017 was held in JiExpo Kemayoran on 7-13 August. Not only focused on innovation and technology, Habibie Festival also provide creative people and brands to showcase themself and their products in MakerLand section. Inside this MakerLand, there were a lot handycrafts being exhibited and sold, such as decoupage, quilting paper, illustrated notebooks and postcards, and my product for example as well, polymer clay! My booth were the only one that showcased handmade sculpting creations.
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| Me and my display table |
So, How did I get into this event? A friend of mine, shared this information about Makerland in my campus alumni LINE group. Because it was free of charge, and I thought the event was big and well known (because it had Habibie named on it), so I decided to join! I clicked through the link and filled the form about my personal information, and about my brand Clover and Flower. I also sent them Clover and Flower's instagram and blog. I was so grateful that I have made this blog earlier (even though I was struggling to keep this blog updated), because having this blog really made my brand have more credibility. When I sent the form, I didn't expect many things, well because I believe that it was a big and national event, not only for Jakarta creatives. Also I didn't have any achievement that time, I only got featured in kids magazine once. (I don't know if it was worth as achievement or not but I'm still proud of it. I always wanted to be in the magazine and someday : national television!)
When I got the email weeks later, I was so shocked that my brand was curated in Makerland on Habibie Festival. It freaked me out and didn't believe it at first. Also I was busy working in the office that I didn't think I have time to make anything. I didn't have any display tools like a wooden rack or something so when I went home I printed every documents they sent me about the terms and conditions, and read it very carefully. I contacted every contact person they listed because I was not given a detailed information about the table location. (Later I found out on D-day, the tables were free to choose based on first come-first get method.) Since this was my first experience ever to have a booth to exhibit, I was a bit clueless what I should do. Then I made a list of things that I already have at home, and made a sketch about how to use them the most to display my creations.
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| Break down of things I could use for display table. |
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| From the sketch idea into the real display |
My table display turned out very simple but eye catching enough.You can see here I put my IPad as a table tent. It was actually a power point presentation I made about Clover and Flower so my audience could take a look about the story behind Clover and Flower, future vision, and achievement (yes I put about that kids magazine again haha), and contact page. The nice thing about the IPad was that it could show the my contact page (email, instagram, phone number, etc) in one page. When my name card was ran out of stock, I showed them my contact page and they took picture of it. Simple! The crowds in Habibie Festival were amazing!!! A lot of kids from many different school came as a field trip, there were a lot of parents also joining. 98% people who came to my booth must touched my clay creations. This happened a lot, maybe they have to touch it so they can truly see it, as using both eyes were not enough so they have to sense it with their finger as well. Hahaha.
I love looking at everyone's reactions when they saw my creations. They were so curious, they wanted to touch everything, they played with it. There were one girl playing with my clay and made a story herself, also one little boy squeaking when he saw my polymer clay creations. They have the best reactions so far. They called their friends to came over to my booth to see what they see, also snap pictures. On my first day of exhibiting my clay creations, I didn't sell anything because I didn't make anything new and only showcasing my polymer clay creations I already had. I thought if I sell them, I would ran out of things to display until the third day. But the demands were so high, they insist to buy my clay because they want to have them so much.
One elementary or junior high student told me that these were amazing, the potential was really big and could make a lot of money from it. That I could make this and that. I was amazed that I was "schooled" by these kids. I learned a lot. Their energy lightened up my spirit so later that night on the first day even though I was exhausted pretty badly I made clay to be sold on the next day. On the second day I started to sell my clay, I made keychains, and custom bracelets. People now could buy and keep them. Then they started to ask me if I have any studio or workshop. They wanted to learn. But I said I have not done any workshop, someday I will. I felt I've been challenged! So that day I did a polymer clay demo. Not only asking for workshop, they also asked me if I sell polymer clay supplies such as the clay and the tools I used. Noted! Maybe I will sell it in the future.
I got a lot of insight from this event. I thank everyone that came, my friends, my family who helped and accompany me for 3 days of exhibition. To all random people that love my creations as much as I do and gave me encouragement to do this and that, they gave me compliments and raised my confident. I felt so blessed to be part of this amazing experience at Habibie Festival. Even there was one man, came to my booth, amazed, and he said to my mom, how lucky she is to have me as her daughter because I was so talented. It was the best thing anyone ever said in my life. I want to thank everyone who follow the journey of Clover and Flower from the start. Your following and likes in Instagram really made me keep doing it. Thank you for all the kind words, they are all blessings for me. I know that Clover and Flower is still very raw and not that amazing but you guys keep believe in this potential. I was scared but challenged. I hope I can make Clover and Flower better from time to time. :)
Since I am full time freelancing now, I will try to focus on Clover and Flower, along with my watercolor illustration. The gate of possibilities are open and I ready to face it!! I hope this post can inspire you anyway or anyhow, how tiny steps are important for our future. Work hard, and be kind.
xoxo
Audrey Katherine
