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How do I start it, how to do the cutting, design process, tools and materials, product and development, etc
Dewi Kocu is “The First Indonesian Paper Cutter Artist” who starts Cutteristic since early 2011. In the last four years since she began selling her work commercially (spending the first three years balancing her art with office assignments), Dewi has made more than 6000 pieces of artworks, everything from birthday and anniversary gifts, to corporate gifts and has been trusted by more than 300 well-known companies.
Having studied architectural engineering at Tarumanegara University, Dewi first developed her cutting skills to make miniature building models. “I never learned any cutting skills from other individuals or institutes.” “While creating my first Cutteristic piece, I found some difficulties in cutting away certain parts using small scissors, so I instead used a cutter to finish it.” “After that, I began to use the cutter to complete the other work I had to do.”
She loves the intricate design, the challenges in the creation process — the more delicate the cutting skills [are] that needs to be carried out, the more she is attracted to it. Cutteristic provides “gifts in frames, decoration, fashion accessories in pendants,” Out of all her products, she finds particular enjoyment in creating pieces that can be kept in frames or pendants.
She says, “I want people to know that we can make beautiful things from a simple material — paper. This is why I lead [paper cutting] workshops too, to share with people the know-how to creating something extraordinary from simple daily items.”
Dewi adds, “I also make [some] paper cutting, not for commercial use, which I create with full Indonesian traditional patterns. This is where I combine Chinese traditional techniques with Indonesian culture.”
“[The] thing that makes me most happy and proud in doing batik patterns is because I want to introduce the beauty of traditional Indonesian pattern — which we usually see in fabric, wood, or stone — in a new media that is paper cutting. Sometimes it is difficult to get modern, young people interested in traditional or ancient things. Indonesian culture is something that we should be proud of the most.”
“So I’m trying to lift it to a whole new level through this fresh media, paper cutting,” Dewi says.
I am an artisan and my life is dedicated to keep my art alive
Thank you to all of these media who featured me in and help me spread Cutteristic.