“Some People Sing. Some People Dance. I Produce.”
Meet Irma Hardjakusumah, the Design Director of Ethos Design and mom to a five month old son, Gyan. I have been fascinated by Irma’s work since I met her a few years ago through mutual friends. Irma has been featured by Event Design magazine as one of its “Women to Watch” in the design industry for her work for Skyy Vodka, Nine West, MGM and Wal-Mart.
Irma is a multi disciplinary designer, which means she combines a strong knowledge and understanding of architecture, interior and product designs when she creates, be it for events or exhibits. She came to Los Angeles in 1998 after completing her studies in architecture at the University of Indonesia. Irma has heard of a study known as Environmental Design, which started in Amsterdam, Japan and the United States. For a semester she took night classes both in UCLA and the Art Center in Pasadena to learn more about interior and product designs. Her thirst of the knowledge and her hard work paid off, she was offered four positions and took the design job at Ethos Design.
Irma laughed as she recalled the weekends she spent browsing screw drivers and wood at the Home Depot as she started her new job. She needed to understand how wood or metal behaves, the purpose of every single equipment in the hardware store. One might think she’s an over achiever. When you speak to her though, you realize that she breathes and lives for design. She believes that there is a science behind every craft, and only when you understand it well then you will create that one remarkable piece.
I asked her to describe what design means for her. Without hesitation she said, “The heart of design is about problem solving. Yes, beauty is important. But, beauty is only in the eyes of the beholder. What I think as beautiful might not be attractive to you. However, if you find out exactly what the problem is when someone comes to you and ask you to help design, when you are able to find and create that solution both in function and esthetic, that is when you are truly designing.”
As her approach to design, her values in life and raising her son too is remarkable. To her, as it was passed on to her by her mother, it is important for Gyan to know where he stands, to find love within him first before he is able to love others, to have a passion in life, to always strive to be the master of his craft, to know his battles and to persevere at the face of failure.
To learn more about Irma’s work at Ethos Design click here and to see her work on Lounge 22 furniture click here