Welcome everyone! 

Thank you so much for visiting my Artweb Page. 

My name is Elena, I'm a parttime designer and recently I have been working on a great project with my good friend Donna! She runs a nonprofit foundation to collect money to renovate and safe one of the most beautiful palaces in Java, Indonesia. She discovered on her journey that she is a descendant of the royal family of Keraton Surakarta. Unfortunately, they have lost almost everything over the years, and the keraton (which was once the greatest palace of Java) is now almost forgotten and not attractive anymore for tourists (who are their most important source of income) because they can't afford to maintain the keraton, let alone renovate it. My friend decided to take action and she started Foundation Time To Clean Up! She asked me to help her with my creative ideas, and asked me if I could design merchandise that we could sell. Among other things, I made the 'Samirs' (based on the original Samirs that are worn in the Keraton). I made a lot of them, so many that I had to come up with another way to sell them to as many people as possible, worldwide, instead of just to family, friends, and people we were able to reach, limited to the Netherlands. 

I will tell you something short about the Samir and it's meaning: The Samir is a yellow/red sash, a distinctive feature of the Javanese royal regalia. The Samir is worn by Javanese aristocrats and members of the Javanese royal family on ceremonial occasions at the keraton. Visitors of the keratin will be asked to wear the Samir during their visit, as a sign of good meanings, a good heart, and have sincere respect for the holy ground they are entering, and that they respect the royal family, their values and their history. 

 For us and for Foundation Time To Clean Up, the beautiful Samir symbolizes not only our respect but mostly our care for the keraton, and our efforts to raise money for the indispensable renovations that will need to happen. If nothing happens in the years that are coming, the karaton will collapse and its irreplaceable heirlooms will be gone for good.

So, this is basically the story about my whole project that I made of making the Samirs! I wanted them the look as much the same as the originals as possible, so it turned out to be a long quest to collect all the right 'ingredients'! Every part is made by hand, including the little tassels. The beads I used in the beginning are spray painted gold (I couldn't find the right colour/shape yet) and glued together so the tassels and beads would stick together.. The bead of the later versions I made were already gold and had just to be glued. Every piece is made with a lot of care, of course the joy of designing itself and the good endgoal in mind. 

Would you like to help us with our project and our fundraising? And would you like to buy one of these original pieces, made to save the keraton Surakarta? Please feel free to contact me any time, as well as for orders, questions, opinions or ideas!

Best Wishes,

Elena