Dorotea Gale - The Creator

We have talked about products of Dorotea Gale and now surely we should talk about people behind this production. And without further ado, here is the interview with the woman behind Dorotea Gale productions: Dewi Christina

Hi Dewi :) Thanks for doing this interview with me. So, tell me about yourself?

I was born in Spain and grew up in a small city there. My dad is Indonesian so I started travelling between the two countries when I was five years old. I haven’t stopped since then. I studied Social Work and completed my studies in Santiago de Chile and Madrid, where I had a Master’s degree in Community Social Work. I also spent a few months in India studying and practicing yoga right before coming to live in Indonesia. 

While I was living in Jakarta I studied Fashion Design and fell in love with traditional Indonesian textiles. I started a personal blog about them just to write down all what I was learning about them and the Indonesian culture, which I find incredibly rich. I realized then that there are many people sharing that same interest, after all the Spanish-speaking community is pretty big!

When did you actually decide that this is the line of work that you would love to do in your life?

I love traditional Indonesian textiles so I love everything related to them. The techniques, meanings and stories they have behind are incredibly interesting for me. It’s also a way to show appreciation for my own roots. Bringing together both my European and Asian backgrounds into the designs and trying to bring both cultures closer is something meaningful to me.

Dorotea Gale - The Product

I have this habit of asking someone that I know from social media to meet up in person. I mentioned this on my previous postings months ago. Anyway, I have twitter follower that attract my attention because of the name: Dorotea Gale.

Naturally, I browse around and I found out that Dorotea Gale is actually the name of their product using Indonesian textiles. I got curious and ask the owner to meet and have a little of chit chat. And not only just a gal chit chat. But I used this opportunity to interview the owner as well. So, here goes...

Can you tell us a bit about Dorotea Gale? Like when this business started? Why choose the name?

Dorotea Gale was founded by Dewi Cristina after living in Indonesia for a while. Here she began to learn about Indonesia’s traditional textiles and the expert craftsmanship behind them. She wanted to do something practical and beautiful with them. Being a fanatic traveler, she was quite used to not to have more than the strictly necessary things, and having a textile collection was not very pragmatic. That’s where the idea of Dorotea Gale began. She decided to use the beautiful fabrics collected on her travels to make useful objects everyone needs in their daily lives, firmly believing that thing become alive only when they are used.

The name Dorotea Gale was inspired by the main character of the Wizard of Oz. Like her, Dewi had left everything she was accustomed with to start following her own yellow brick road to search for something else. This is where the story of Dorotea Gale begins.

Serious Movie: The Revenant

Screenshot from the official website

You know when I entered movie theatre, usually I expect the movie to be thrilling and have a happy ending. But, with this movie is another way around. I was totally curious about it as The Revenant has been nominated for 12 awards for Oscar, win 3 awards at Golden Globe awards and many more. I know this movie would have me watch it in deep thoughts. But I never expected I was going to hold my breath for so many times.

The story began with two different scenes. One scene with Leonardo DiCaprio hunting in the wilderness. The other show group of people with lots of pelts, probably will be sold later. But then they were under attack by the Indian and were only able to escape with few of the pelts. And worst, only few people managed to get out alive. That includes their leader Capten Henry (Domhnall Gleeson), their guide and his son (Hugh Glass – Leonardo DiCaprio and Hawk – Forrest Goodluck), Bridger (Will Poulter), the hostile Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy) and several other members. 

During their trip back to their main base, Glass attacked by a grizzly bear. Though he managed to kill the bear but he was badly wounded. Since the other survivors were agitated, Henry offered rewards if any volunteers willing to stay with Glass. Bridger and Hawk instantly said they will give their rewards to the third person. And for the money, Fitzgerald agreed to stay with Glass and the others. 

Ciwidey - Trip Part Two

Last post was about my trip to Kawah Putih. Well, the trip is not over as we were still on going to Ciwidey’s areas. 

If you often read my blog, then you probably noticed that I don’t travel much. So, I hardly have any gear special for travel. Like for example, I just realize that my backpack is actually not for outdoor traveling. And if I am planning to do more traveling this year, I think I am going to need one. Tshhh… I’m just looking for an excuse to buy something new again…

Anyway, after Kawah Putih we continued our journey to Situ Patenggang. At first I was a bit confused about the name. Is it Patenggang or Patengan? I heard that the name is actually Patengan. Situ means lake, so it is Lake Patengan. But local people find it difficult to say “patengan”. So instead they said Patenggang. Since the voucher don’t cover the ticket entrance, amounting IDR 20.500,- so we paid our tour leader along with tips for the driver totally : IDR 30.500,-

Wanna buy local snacks or souvenirs?

Kawah Putih - Trip story part one

Lunch time before continue to Kawah Putih

Last week me and my friends went to Kawah Putih and Ciwidey’s areas – West Java. We bought travel’s voucher from the sites travelicious and they informed us that the one day trip will be on 30th of January 2016. The itinerary is to go to Kawah Putih (White Crater) , then Patengan Lake or Patenggang Lake. The end of the trip is to go to strawberry plantation. My friends warned me though, that there are many strawberry plantations around Ciwidey. So, I have no idea which one that I will have the chance to visit. The voucher cover for entrance ti.cket to Kawah Putih. But doesn't cover entrance ticket to Patengan Lake and we have to prepare IDR 10.000,- for the tips.

As it was being told to us, we all will be going with crews from Tukang Jalan Dot Com. We have to gather near Plaza Semanggi at 5.30 AM. Imagine that, I have to get up around 4 AM. Then at 5.00 AM I went there and ….dang…  Nobody around from Tukang Jalan Dot com. Then my friends arrived and we started to ask around those people down there. There are many other groups also gathered there. Then finally we found out which one, he directed to us which car, then we met with our sort of tour guide. But, we didn’t start the journey as planned as we are waiting for the other participants. Until almost 7 A.M, finally we started the journey. Crap… I totally hate it when I have to wait for other people. Don’t they have the courtesy to inform the crew that they are unable to join us?

Anyway, I forgot about how long a trip to West Java. We spent almost 3 hours (because we need to stop at resting area for more than 30 minutes) before finally arrived in Bandung. And traffic jam ahead of us all the way from Bandung to Ciwidey. We arrived around 11.30 AM and the tour guide told us where the meeting point will be around 12.30. We were given the chance to have our lunch or perhaps buying something for family and friends back home. After that we continue our journey to Kawah Putih. What? We are still not there yet? Nope. 

We chose this one to have lunch... Noodle with meatball and we have sausage as well