This woman admires the process of creating something. For him, the small steps that are part of the details always succeed in raising his enthusiasm.
Having studied fashion marketing, Santi Alaysius took another course majoring in interior design in America. After a successful career in Uncle Sam's country, Santi then chose to follow his life's calling to return to his homeland and build his own company here. Now, a decade on, we can find Santi's works in several hotels and cruise ships. One thing that is most distinctive about his works: Santi always thinks creatively, involving local materials as elements. Read the full story!
Dare to Change the Course of Life
Growing up in a Chinese-Indonesian family, Santi's parents expected him to choose a college major that would benefit him financially. Responding to the wishes of his parents, Santi's choice fell on fashion marketing and management.
At that time, Santi admitted that he learned a lot about the creative industry. After graduating, the desire to study the process of creating something haunted Santi so he continued his studies majoring in interior design. That means, the direction of his life also suddenly changed. However, Santi admitted that he was ready to take all the risks.
His father was someone who gave him the responsibility to finish everything he had started. From this principle, Santi tried to complete his studies. For Santi, the two majors he has taken have helped him understand the two most important parts; namely the creative part and the business part. Santi believes these two parts are interrelated and cannot be separated. Because as a creative worker, Santi feels the need to understand the ins and outs of business management. So even though his life changed direction, Santi never felt that he had never taken the wrong step.
"It's not a problem to change direction in life, the important thing is to be ready to take the risks!"
Be Confident When Taking on Big Responsibilities
In America, Santi was given responsibility for working on a Waldorf Astoria project in Chicago. Initially, Santi did not understand why his boss at that time entrusted him as a junior to be involved in such a big project. Apart from the fact that his client is a neighbor at the office, so he can give directions to Santi at any time, the project he is working on is also a five-star hotel.
After successfully doing it well, Santi felt the need to thank his superiors for involving Santi because from there Santi learned many things. Santi is not afraid to work with anyone, because he believes there will always be something new he can learn. As an Asian woman, she always applies politeness in work relationships but remains professional.
Apart from that, trust is also the most important thing in every form of cooperation. Trust does not come instantly. We need to build it, once built we need to take good care of it and never destroy it. This is the case with Santi's boss's decision to trust Santi to work on a large project. Determinedly, Santi accepted the offer and completed it well.
Santi also explained that interior designers and architects are under the same umbrella. The difference is, architects are in the macro realm, or a larger realm, a kind of box. Meanwhile, interior designers focus on working on details, or micro things, that are in the box created by the architect. Based on his experience of seeing his father work as a constructor, Santi also feels that the passion to be involved in construction runs in his blood. So when he grew up, Santi pursued work that was not much different from what his father had previously done.
“Trust is the most important thing in any form of cooperation.” - Santi Alaysius
Prioritizing Local Ingredients
At one point during Santi's career in America, several social and economic matters there changed uncertainly and Santi decided to return home. He plans to build a jewelry shop in Bali. However, before his plans could be realized, one of Santi's friends from his career in America also returned to Indonesia and invited him to work on a joint project, namely the construction of a restaurant in Senayan City, lower ground. It is a franchise restaurant from Singapore.
Unexpectedly, the results of their work became the talk of the town. How they pay attention to details. Quality of materials, execution, to aesthetic value. The two then decided to build a business together, a firm they named Domisilium. What differentiates Domisilium from firms in general is their courage to explore. Both in terms of design, color, even color. One of the projects they worked on together then was a hotel in Yogyakarta, which was equipped with a giant slide made of brass. Santi knew that Yogyakarta was the best brass producing area, which then encouraged him to provide a new and different breakthrough. Now, the hotel's appearance has become a target for Instagram users to upload their photos on the iconic slide.
It is another characteristic of Santi to always use traditional elements owned by local craftsmen. This shows the strong nationalist spirit inherent in him. This is evident from a grocery store that was built and named Fredhelligh. His grocery store sells cleaning tools ranging from brooms, to displays he has curated from several countries.
To be able to survive in the business industry and the world of work in general, Santi emphasized that mentality and personality are the two most important things. Even more important than skills or abilities. Awesome skills but bad personality, it won't get us anywhere. Because we work together with fellow humans, which means the art of interacting well is needed.
And, never stop learning. Santi believes there is never a right time for someone to feel smart enough.
Are you ready to train mentally and develop a good personality in order to make your dreams come true? Check out other inspiring articles from successful figures that we have curated only on KARENA.ID.