We all know Yaari the artist and party man who’s at most events and always having a good time or opening some art exhibition. We all know his colorful work and associate it with the boutique of the same name, but I wasn’t much aware about the woman behind the whole scene, the woman who lives and has a son with him since seven years. “Not easy!” is her statement about their life together, referring to the freedom of an artist.
I visited Mehran Muslimi at their home in Kerobokan, Indonesia, with a huge studio where Mehran has created a show area for her home-wares using textile motifs from Mehran. She has used these for bedroom linen, curtains, cushion covers from the old base jumper stuff, soap boxes and of late, even for tiles! These combined with wood for furniture work well together bringing an artistic finishing to any piece. Color was always very prominent in Yaari’s work but there are also black and white motifs that work very well with his cheerful designs. There is also a fashion line that is very individual, unique and free.
Muslimi proudly displays her creations on computer of just about any product, one of the most original being a whole swimming pool tiled with Yaari motifs! The overall feeling these designs transmit are those of positivism and energy. It is then not surprising that one is attracted to them and how they can be so versatile. These are potentially vital points in times like these!
Mehran Muslimi is a confident Indonesian woman who explains her ambition in a convincing and sure fashion. She starts off by saying that she learnt a great deal from her father who always gave her strength, hope and guidance. Even keeping up with twelve daughters and strict Indonesian customs, he always made the necessary room for her to evolve as he realized she must have been different. When he asked her why she didn’t go to the temple during ceremonies, she kindly explained that she didn’t like being amongst so many who gossiped and showed off! She exclaimed that her relationship with God was private and for that she did not need people around her. So she went when there was no one. From the tender age of seven, Muslimi dreamt about travel for she realized that Indonesian wasn’t the only world. Wondering if it was better “on the other” side and if people got along more harmoniously than what she knew, this became a pilgrimage for her life. She had to confess that the answer was negative and that she found out that people were basically the same everywhere!
When she was 19, and having had studied Japanese for six months, there was an offer to work in Japan at Mitsubishi. Only three were chosen out of many applicants and she was one of them! Happily she began at the factory and was given the job of washing cars to begin with! “It was so hard!” she said, but it was customary for beginners to start from the bottom and know the product from every detail. She did this and did her best much to the attention of her boss. He started to teach her which surprised her and when she asked why, he replied that he hoped that she would in turn, teach it to others. One day he told her of an opening at a fishery in Fukuoka. She was explained the work of which interested her and soon found herself there learning how to fish on volume, store and sell the freshest catches for Sushis and Sashimis for the Japanese! She was then sent to other countries such as Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam as a quality supervisor and new product creator and had to travel constantly on long rides. It was a tiring but rewarding career and she was proud being the only woman in the field of fishery. She was now 24 and earning very handsomely. Helping poor fishermen and building schools became part of her existence. She was also becoming very engrossed by the world of art as in her spare time, she would visit museums and shows. Eventually she became obsessed by the belief that the smartest people were artists and writers because they could materialize ideas.
One day her boss asked her to run her own company in Indonesia since there wasn’t a branch there. She acquired a second hand Japanese modern fishing boat and opened up in Sulawesi counting on fishing in international waters. Fishermen would spend up till 45 days on sea to catch 50 tons of fish but alas, they won’t be taught new methods! They came back with 200 kilos of rotting fish because they wouldn’t change their ways and learn from her. After five years of struggle to get further, she gave up!In Bali resort private villas are very where and design and interior solutions can be unique is this part of the word, i want study and learn more from this island.
Time evolved and Toya felt she wanted to do something more creative and found herself studying fashion design in New York. She worked in a restaurant and had to pay her schooling but believing in being positive always answered her needs. At Starbucks one day, she met a well-to-do couple with whom she had a long conversation and who then asked if she would live with them and they would help her with everything. Baffled by the request, she asked why and the man exclaimed that she made him laugh although he hadn’t done it for 30 years! They also believed she had a good heart. She spent two years living with them but life in New York brought her seven years further. She spent her time also further developing her artistic eye in the States. Fascinated about the artistic mind, it eventually led to her deciding she wanted to marry an artist! She prayed for years to meet one.
And this happened when she arrived back in Indonesia, she met Yaari and fell in love! She admired his carefree & social life-style, “Yaari taught me so much about colors, mixing, concepts and most of all, to take life with a positive attitude!” They lived in a smaller house with dreams of spreading out. By this time, Toya had re-instated her idea that there was a lot to do out there and in her own country! She began to evaluate what Indonesia had to offer and that had not yet been exploited in combination with what she had seen and learnt. There was a lot!
Mehran talked about her sponsorship of foreigners that teach English to orphans to live here and about the company’s project providing tiles and decoration to a hotel in Spain. One can understand the affinity between the Spanish and the items she creates with Yaari’s paintings, they vaguely remind one of Salvador Dali and the colors of southern Spanish villages.
One of her most intriguing ideas is to build an art center and of course an art hotel (2011), where artists would be consigned to design and create art-pieces for exhibition and where foreign artists would also be invited to stay and work. And a theatre is foreseen to fulfill her love for entertainment. She would love to show performances of a special form of Kecak, Geguyon, from her own region in the district of Karangasem which is not known and where she is from. “I’ve always had land in Amed and now I can put it to good use. One has to provide more areas of interest in Bali. Everything now is so concentrated onto a few important locations.” The port at Karangasem is already built and the first cruise would arrive later this year. This should rightly expose Karangasem more, which once used to be the capital of Bali.
“I don’t like the art world!” she says. “Galleries buy work cheaply from artists and make huge profits, they try to control artists. I believe Indonesians are very creative and I want to help them. I want to create products from their art and this will provide them a monthly salary so they don’t have to struggle”.
Wonderful to see such enthusiasm and her father was right, he taught her the theory, “if you’re okay, then I’m okay” and that with this reflective concept, there are no losers! And the one most important thing she learnt, if one mixes art too much with commercialism, art and life will loose! It is to give and not to expect because when one gives without expectation, the receiving is automatic and one doesn’t have to greed or calculate it. Karma has a big role in her life, giving her confidence from having been abroad and bringing the knowledge back to her own world to benefit her own people, she has seen the “light”! And she had given it to me! For she said that she thought in a funny conclusion, that artists are the normal ones and not the “others”. They don’t seem to have obstacles and just live their lives in expression and natural spontaneity. No wonder he lives with this lady, that Yaari, she’s a lady of vision!
