About Us
Left to right: Dyah, Ayu, Ariyani
Ayu Larasati was born in Indonesia and moved to Toronto, Canada to study at Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD University). She earned her bachelor degree in Industrial Design graduating with 3 awards for herend-of-year thesis project. Ayu has spent years working for a design and manufacturing company in Toronto designing for small establishments and multinational companies. While she was holding her full-time job as a product designer, ceramics and pottery has captured her biggest passion and she found herself making ceramic objects from her apartment. In late 2014, she established a small home studio in Jakarta, Indonesia producing small batch of functional everyday home wares.
When I first moved to Toronto lady gave me an acorn nut. She asked me, "do you know what this nut will be? " - "An oak tree" She answered. An oak tree was believed to be the tree of knowledge and also it is the strongest and most resistant type of wood that when the British migrate to Canada, they build the boats from it. She said every time you feel small, just remember that the big mighty oak tree was once small too. The nut illustrates what was happening in my life at that time so perfectly.
Since then, I have kept an acorn nut as a keepsake. One that not only reminds us the place where I came from and where we want to be but also for reminder to continuously seeking for knowledge or mastery. Now I am back moving and settling in my home town, Jakarta and having to spend more than a decade living abroad has made me seeing things in a different perspective. I want this website to serve as a documentation of this journey of establishing a home pottery studio.
Ayu has also been actively involved in a community of makers. She teaches, shares and promotes the process of creating ceramic objects. Through the conversation that happens around handmade small batch production ceramics and home-based business, she hope to cultivate a different level of appreciation, a deeper meaning when using her pottery. A more informed decision when buying an everyday objects.
Dyah Setyarini is the friendly face you see manning Unearth Space, our offline store in Jakarta. Between making ceramics, updating our social media, taking orders and packing up our pieces for shipment, Dyah is a dependable force that makes sure that everything runs smoothly behind the scenes for shipping, customer service, and keeping track of our logistics for Unearth. After working at Unearth for almost three years, Dyah has been our go-to for customer support at Unearth since Day 1 and keeps a positive presence in our space.
Ariyani Wardani joined AL Studio in August 2020 as a Studio Manager. She hopes to learn not only how to manage and assist studio work but also to help her self-actualizations, achieve her aspirations and kickstart her career path. Ariyani’s bubbly personality lightens up the daily activities in the studio and helps the team to support each other and work towards the studio’s goals. Ariyani loves the colorful hues of our Cotton Candy and Midnight Blue pieces.
Left to right: Flory, Nabila, Indah
Flory Ambarita is one of the makers in Ayu Larasati Studio - her role largely focuses on wheel throwing pieces as well as finishing and glazing before the pieces are loaded in the kiln. In Flory's own words, 'working with clay day to day for me is a much needed contrast to the chaos of living in the city as it requires a gentle approach, dedication and surrender'. Her favorite AL Ceramics piece would be the Yunomi Cup in the 'Danube' glaze.
Nabila Nareswari is also one of the makers in Ayu Larasati Studio - her role mainly focuses on handbuilding projects in the studio, she works a lot with slabs to create pieces that you can't achieve with wheel throwing. When asked what her favorite piece is, it would be the 'Coiled Medium Bowl' and she said 'I get really proud every time I see one finished, because I used to really had trouble making them on my first few days. These days they're more of a breeze, and simply really fun to make. Topped with Icicle glaze, it just looks very beautiful.'
Indah Aprilia is our Communication Officer for Unearth Space and AL Ceramics - her role focuses mainly on taking care of Unearth Space's Instagram account while also managing the AL Ceramics' website, handling upcoming events/workshops at Unearth and handling custom orders from local and international clients.