First stop on this January’s trip to Bali and Lombok was Lombok Pottery Centre (LPC) in Mataram. I stepped off the ferry in Lembar, on the west coast of Lombok, into ankle deep water. For the four hour duration of the crossing of the Lombok Strait it had not stopped pouring with rain, and it was obvious things were no different on land. I waded through both the water and the obligatory sea of drivers eager to jump on this foreigner. Lucky for me I had done the Lembar – Mataram route multiple times before and had a ball-park figure of what is a reasonable price for the 45 minute journey to the capital. Sharing the drive with a young graphic designer from Java whom I had met on the ferry, I did learn that I was still paying double what an Indonesian national such as himself was paying. The price of being a ‘tourist’ I guess.

The ladies at the LPC office and showroom were in their usual fine form. A big welcome and much fuss over my drenched clothes and feet. They were disappointed that I had not taken them up on their offer to pick me up from the port, however, I was not exactly sure when I was going to arrive so I had decided not to trouble them. I also knew that they would be going out of their way for me a lot over the next 24 hours so I preferred to lessen my reliance on them a little. 

We chatted over a delicious home made coffee, a blend of Lombok beans and crushed dried soy. I’m not entirely sure if this is a common concoction around these parts or if it was an LPC speciality. Either way it was a great twist on the regular thick, strong coffee served on the island. We discussed how quickly the two years since I last visited had passed and how our respective businesses had fared during that period. I was pleased to hear that things had picked up a lot for LPC and their villages during 2011, although they could always be doing better. They had received a couple of big orders from one of the USA’s biggest fair trade retailers, a big order from Australia and a couple of solid customers in Italy and Japan. KartiMarket remains the sole importer of their product in the UK, something we are very proud of.

I spent the next couple of hours sifting through hundreds of products on the shelves of their warehouse, looking for things that would suit the KartiMarket style or, with some development, could be adapted into products that I thought would be popular. This part of a visit is always really interesting for both parties. I update them on foreign markets and design trends and how that can assist them in what they promote. Despite the internet becoming faster and more accessible in places like Lombok, it is still apparent that it is not always used beyond email communication and perhaps visiting the odd website. The idea of following a design or industry blog, or even a quick Google image search was not something they were familiar with, let alone are in the habit of doing.

After taking photos of some great products we had lunch prepared in the LPC kitchen. It was still bucketing down outside so after lunch I was dropped at the nearby beach town of Sengigi – not particularly nice as beach towns go but at least I knew there would be an abundance of decent accommodation. The last time I visited LPC, I stayed in what seemed to be the only remaining hotel room in Mataram due to a couple of conferences on that week – it was a mouse-infested dive that had walls stained with a range of suspicious colours. Sengigi in low season provided me with a range of options. 

The following morning the sun broke through for the first time since arriving in Indonesia. I was being picked up from Sengigi at 930am. A combination of shocking traffic between Mataram and Sengigi and the Indonesians’ famous ‘jam karet’ literally translated as ‘rubber time’, saw that it was closer to 1015am by the time the car arrived.

We were off to the village of Penujak, one of the three most famous areas for producing Lombok pottery. The road from Mataram to Penujak is also the new road to the new airport in Lombok. I was very surprised to hear that this road should be avoided at night due to a number of car jackings and robberies. It’s not a place you associate with those crimes and a reminder of the hardship that is not far below the surface for many on the island. My last trip here I visited the larger Masbagik village which produces KartiMarket’s most popular Lombok product, the Black Fruit Bowl. Penujak doesn’t produce the more popular black products that Masbagik does and has suffered because of it. The types of earthenware coming out of Penujak are lighter tones of black/brown as well as red. Penujak seems to create products with a more ornamental feel and LPC suggest this may be a reason why their products are not as popular as the more functional pottery coming out of Masbagik and Banyumulek.

The area of the village that is producing pottery for LPC is at the bottom of a steep hill that coincides with a sharp curve in the narrow road. From our vantage point we can see motorbikes and trucks scream around the corner and turn into the oncoming traffic ploughing down the hill. It is not rare to see accidents I am told, and deaths too have been witnessed from this otherwise sleepy corner. We drink coffee, eat rumbutan and watch as dogs wander across the road, ducking in front of the motorbikes and scooters. It is clearly an area that can do with the money they receive from their partnership with LPC. I was shown the new buildings that LPC have built to showcase the village creations and a more comfortable environment for them to work. I meet three local potters, Inak Lihah (woman making the bowl in top photo), Pak Haji Taslun (man making lizard) and Hajah Muminah (woman kneeding the clay). They’re happy to demonstrate their skills for me and ask us to order more of their products. I assure them that if I could, I would buy the lot!

It was a great opportunity for me to get to the source of some of our products and meet the faces behind them. Hopefully we can continue to help them develop homewares that not only utilise the skills that they have been handed down from past generations but also appeal to our customers at the same time. It was time for me to leave and get back to the port at Lembar. My LPC guides drove me back from Penujak just as the heavens opened once more and ensured I left Lombok in the same fashion as I arrived.

Stay tuned for my next post recapping my brief visit with another Indonesian fair trade collaborator, Mitra Bali.

Chris