The Java Furniture as A Local Cultural Response and Preservation In Surakarta

Abstract

This study aims to preserve ethics and Javanese manners through understanding the Javanese society sitting culture on the temple relief. A specific target in this discussion is the discovery of information about the form of Javanese furniture in the development of the best furniture design in Surakarta. The method used is explorative, to identify the form of furniture based on the information from the temples in Java. The sources obtained from the temple artifact, literature, document or archive and informant then analyzed with interactive model. The results of the analysis show that: (1) The form visually visible in the form of: pads, four-legged bench or amben, six-legged bench or amben, eight-legged amben, chairs, and thrones or singgasana. (2) Seat size is seen based on lines forming large or high plane, the form is visualized with consideration of the using for group or individual seats, social status, and materials. (3) Furniture material looks based on the thickness of the size and the technique work indicates the existence of wood and stone materials. (4) Techniques used for the completion of the sitting tools and forming the profile seen as the technique of carving and lathe (bubut). The sitting facilities are having functional: physical, personal, and social. Physical function, a sitting tool is visualized in an appropriate form of activity. The personal function, the sitting tool is visualized with the consideration of function based on differences in social status seen in the different shape and size. The social function of the sitting tool is visualized in various shapes, sizes, ornaments, and the ngrawit profile, the form is fully visualized proportional consideration between the shape of the ornament, the size, and the tehnique as the evidence of intelligence existence in the high artistic taste also the evidence of the civilization existence.