I received few texts from my friends who asked me about Inacraft 2011 - the biggest Indonesian handicraft exhibition. So, I think it’s going to be better for me to write my experience here than replying texts one by one :D Actually this year’s exhibition was very very crowded! With so many Indonesian artists, designers, and industry owners participating at this event, thus it attracts more and more people to come as well. Compared to last year’s exhibition, in my opinion, I find this year’s is a lot more fun as there are so many new exhibition participants that tries to bring new product innovations.

However, for a market goer like me, I know some of the sellers sell their products way too pricey than the standard market would sell. But since it’s an exhibition anyway, visitors know how much money they should bring to the exhibition, they’re all prepared with some amount of money and some confidence to bargain, I know :) Another concern that I always find in every year’s exhibition is the venue management. With so many exhibition stands, and so huge hall, venue should ideally be managed and categorized based on the products. For example, hall A for batik only, hall B for jewelery, etc. By randomly, it really confuses us, the visitors. Moreover, besides managing the venue, it is also important for the committee to manage the entrance and parking area. When I went there, I spent more than 1 hour just to get to the entrance gate. Crazy, eh?

Apart of all the fusses about this year’s Inacraft, I’m happy that I got some beautiful things from the exhibition!! :D Here are the fabrics I bought yesterday.

Cirebon batik - handstamped

Jumputan fabric from Palembang, South Sumatera. Made with ‘jumputan’ technique