Culture

The pandemic has brought back a season for kites. In the daylight, colourful paper kites soared across the city’s sky as groups of kite-flyers held onto their strings to keep them sailing high, this time with face masks on. Taken in Jakarta’s various neighbourhoods, these images show the return of the forgotten pastime where social distancing is already at play.

The Bandung-based brand, Dari, created the ‘Pandemic Series Signage’ in collaboration with graphic design studio Nusae, to navigate today’s pandemic-ridden environment, as the company envisions to become the missing link in public spaces through their design of everyday objects.

On one of the dilemmas that invade social media today, Managing Editor Erdira Wirengjurit ponders on how the nature of our social platforms must require its users to adopt a sense of accountability in the age of content creation.

We fancy this classic household item that our mothers swear by: Legolas the Mattress Thumper by Fredhelligh, a versatile tool that packs a punch to bite the dust while still looking like a handsome trinket is our choice for Manual Pick, a series where highlight items we love and desire that range from remarkably banal to mucho fancy.

A Matter of Design is an article series by Manual Jakarta where we call attention to memorable branding and design of lifestyle establishments in the city. For this chapter, we meditate on the visual identities preserved by some of the city’s legendary Chinese eateries as we unravel the roots of our local vernacular design.

Building a new city is no easy feat, but the project to relocate the Indonesian capital is now underway. We speak to Sibarani Sofian, the urban designer and head of the local firm URBAN+ who is behind the new face of the capital city in East Kalimantan to talk about the depths and complexities of designing this gargantuan project.