In Indonesia, the Legal Minimum Wage (LMW) is extrapolated based on the Decent Living Needs Index for a city (known as “Kebutuhan Hidup Layak”) and the country annual inflation rate.
We calculated the average from all of our artisans cities and use it as the baseline value.

We choose to work exclusively with traditional artisans and treat them as rather collaborative partners than workers; this means they are their own enterprises and function independently from us. Having them standing in the focus of our operation, flexibility and teamwork are keys to our nature of collaboration. Read more about each of our artisans collectives below.

Nestled on the outskirts of Klaten, a small town 2 hours away to the east from Special Region of Yogyakarta, where the Sukinahs call home. A master of natural dyes for over 30 years, they are our Javanese weavers family behind all of ourLorekcollections. Having grown up in a family of weavers, it is only natural for Ibu Sukinah to continue passing down her knowledge to her daughter – Mbak Ratmi, in the hope that they can preserve the fabric making tradition. They were our first partner and RŪPAHAUS wouldn't be where we are now without the support of this mother-daughter duo. As a result of the demand created through RŪPAHAUS, Ibu Sukinah and Mbak Ratmi began a collective of women weavers from their own and neighbouring villages, sharing the workload amongst families of weavers, and ultimately created a sustainable working opportunities for these women in the comfort of their own homes so they can retain their domestic presence in their households to take care of their families.

Shop the creation of these talented weavers in collaboration with us here.

Working from his independent atelier in the southern region of Yogyakarta, Mas Ta is the maestro behind all of our Batik kimonos and shirts. He leads many local batik painters collectives, who are collaborating alongside him to create hand-painted batik pieces in all forms – from wood sculptures to textiles – all completely using the Indonesian wax-resist technique, known as Batik. Being born into a batik family surely didn't stop Mas Ta for rebelling out of the traditional norm. Taking a contemporary twist in the traditional wax-resist batik techniques while portraying his captivating point of view, Mas Ta found a way to express his personal interests without losing his identity of his family heritage. Through adaption of plant-dyes, Mas Ta infuses his work with very important message a living culture and respect of the environment. No Batik motifs is ever the same – every RŪPA Batik piece is a collection of tradition, passion and craftsmanship, letting each piece tells its own story.

Shop the collection we collaborated with Mas Ta and his collective here.

3 hours away southwest from the bustling metropolis of Jakarta is a 50 square kilometre hill area sheltering an ancient tribe of people who eschew the modern world and foster a very limited contact with the outside world, known as the Kanekes. Filled with bamboo houses and only accessible by foot, the Kanekes village lies deep in the forest and comprises two parts – the outer Kanekes village that surrounds, and the heart of the forest, the sacred and completely secluded inner Kanekes village. Their observation of life is rooted in their ancestral animism teaching and utter respect of mother nature, and is reflected in their attitude of protecting, preserving and maintaining the balance within their natural ecosystem and surroundings. Although their practices have led to high heritage preservation within the Kanekes community, their isolated circumstance means earning a living has become even more challenging in this modern times. Led by the outer Kanekes – Arsid – the Kanekes are now able to not only share their revered craftsmanship with the world, but also generate a sustainable living wage.

Shop the full range featuring the Kanekes weavers here.

Surrounded by untouched nature, Sumba is filled with richness in colours and textures that don’t exist in other parts of Indonesia and for that, the East Sumbanese Ikat weavers take pride in their heritage and strongly believe it as a sacred legacy from their ancestors; which is reflected in the methods that govern their practices. Led by one of the East Sumba’s best natural dyes masters - Papa Deki – our Ikat collective comprises Mama Ika who's responsible in guiding and training the collective of young weavers and Kak Esi who's the indigo master dyer in the family. Having grown up in a weaver's family, Papa Deki’s extensive knowledge doesn't come without the hard work. At a young age, he not only dedicated his life to become a natural dye master in the hope of preserving his traditional heritage and empowering his community to continue the tradition, but also to responsibly source his working materials from his immediate surroundings.

Discover our home textile collection featuring the work of Ikat weavers here.

44km from the creative hub of Yogyakarta, nestled within Menoreh Hills and the world's largest Buddhist temple, the Borobudur, Klipoh village is a home to generations of artisanal potters since the 9th century, like Supoyo and Arum, our father-daughter artisans duo. Being grossly influenced by the presence of Borobudur, every piece of our clayware celebrates the beauty of imperfection and authenticity. We salvage "flawed" clayware, pieces that didn't make a cut due their imperfect shapes or textures and give them a second chance, but also encourage the potters to break out of their norms, and learn to appreciate unique beauty in everything by creating handmade pieces that honour the freedom of creativity from its makers. So when we say it’s handcrafted, it really comes from the heart.

Browse our curated clayware selection from the Klipoh potters here.