By Linda Yuliana

Innovator – a person who uses their imagination and creativity to add up 2 plus 2 and get 5. They take “the way it’s always been done,” toss in a fresh concept to solve a problem and launch a whole new direction in the marketplace. Meet Mr. Cahyoko Bahar Sarjito, DVM or Pak Yoko as he’s known.

When I asked about the striking T-shirt Pak Yoko was wearing for our interview, his face lit up as he replied, “Ya, seeing that for myself was a dream come true…a dream come true.” Three panels of brightly colored mosaics, set against a black background show off the red lettering from the Gaudi Museum. It turns out Gaudi inspired the shift in direction that Jedok Stoneworks took in 2000.

Beginning in 1995, Pak Yoko and his team of designers, through much trial and error, were the first to produce and market small functional home accessories made with the richly striated Javanese sandstone. After 1997, these cups, bowls, ashtrays and so on, made their way to many parts of the world. Unfortunately, there was no way to safeguard their designs and copies were plentiful.

While searching for a new stone product he could patent, Pak Yoko was drawn over and over to the colorful mosaics of Gaudi. He thought about how a sheet of regular floor tiles always has a sharp line on each side. What if he could create an irregular edge, but one that would always connect into an overall continuous pattern?

Again, trial and error, hard work and ingenuity led to the patented system Jedok Stoneworks is famous for. Pak Yoko knows others are claiming this idea as their own, but he’s the only one with an official patent on this system. His advice, “Don’t steal the idea. Just ask us. We welcome anyone to work with us under license.”

What makes these tiles so special? Pak Yoko enthusiastically described why he loves this product. First of all, it uses only the “left-over” blocks of stone from large-scale factories. Plus blocks can come from small quarries … small deposits of stone that a large company cannot utilize. This supports small-scale mining operators who extract the stone with simple hand tools.

“So much of what we do is very low-tech. We take these left-over blocks and cut them with a small machine. Next the pieces are put into the tumbling machine, washed and then all of the arranging is done by hand. It’s like a puzzle. After training, the mostly female workers can pick up each piece of stone and very quickly find the exact spot for a clean fit.”

This leads us to the second reason. “It’s the combination of machine and handwork that allows us to compete in countries with high labor costs.” According to Pak Yoko, this is the key to creating sustainable export businesses here in Indonesia. If goods are made only by machine, they will lose to China or Europe for example. With completely hand-made products, the capacity is simply not great enough to market them to scale. But the combination of machine precision with the artistic skill and sensibility of human hands opens up a viable niche in the export market.

Third, these tiles are unique. “In the era of Gaudi they had to place each chip one by one, now we make it so easy for people to lay this tile and create a unique look that can be used in many applications, indoor and outdoor.”

Jedok Stoneworks is currently one of three finalists in an award competition for an innovative, functional product using waste materials with a large-scale production capacity. They’re still waiting to hear the results.

But Pak Yoko’s drive to constantly improve his products, listen to his customers, incorporate suggestions and actively enter the marketplace means whether they win the award or not, you know you’ll be buying a unique product from a true innovator.