Our Founders
In 1978, Mr. Aseng started his journey all alone from Bandung to Bali. Having no money is not an excuse for him to do nothing. He then started to work as a street hawker, selling high-value handicrafts such as jewellery and statue made of silver and natural resources which he borrowed from several craftsmen, walking along Kuta beach, Bali, every day, from morning till night. He also helped the nasi goreng seller, cleaning and tidying up their place to get some food to eat every night.
Along the way, with his creativity and hard work, he managed to gain trust build relationships with some suppliers and collaborate with local craftsmen. Initially, the materials they were working on were a complete set of 925 sterling silver and precious stones. Mr. Aseng never forgets the people who helped him all along. So, when he was finally able to rent a small store which he named Maharani Silver/ Maharani Actual Design (M.A.D) in 1989, he asked them to collaborate with him. Even the nasi goreng seller, who then he gives space to sell in front of his store. Later, he expanded his business by renting a two stories store on Legian Street where he hired sixteen craftsmen to make the handcrafted jewellery on the second floor, while at the first floor, he tried to open various businesses such as fashion factory outlet, ornament fish, etc which is not run smooth. As time goes by, slowly but surely, Maharani Silver getting popular and selling well in Bali. Unfortunately, due to the economic crisis, Maharani’s silver jewellery has been rapidly extinguished. Mr. Aseng realized the potential market of the crafts. He then decided to change his business direction into a handicrafts and start building his dream by establishing Maharani Craft.
In 2006, he met Mr. Sonny, who has many experiences in jewellery and handicraft industry finally became his long term-partner.
Since then, Maharani has been a manufacturer and exporter of accessories in ethnic and contemporary designs. Combining jewelry techniques with natural resources and precious stones from all over Indonesia, creating unique and premium handcrafted home decorations, such as door and cupboard knobs, jewelry boxes, and other home accessories.
All of Maharani’s collections were handcrafted by talented and skilled craftsmen from Bali who have been working with Maharani for more than 20 years. There are approximately 10 producer groups in and around Bali. Some of them are working on jewelry, while several others are new manufacturers.
Year by year, Mr. Aseng always tries his best to innovate his business by exploring materials and techniques with both male and female craftsmen to see if the designs could be developed into a wider and better market and also to deal with the global competition. As time went by, Pak Aseng fell into a stroke, making it difficult for him to continue his duties. He passed away on October 23, 2020.
Irene was born on April 30, 1977, in Malang, Indonesia. In 2001, she moved to Bali. Her educational background in accountancy has opened up her career path as an accountant in various industries such as garment, pearls conservation, restaurants, and diving business, and helped her to understand more about Maharani’s operations when Mr. Aseng, her stepfather, asked her to join the company in 2010. She learned about the company’s cash flows, orders and audits. She realized that Maharani did not have the proper standard operational procedure that enabled them to handle some problems that occurred along the way, such as the export of problematic/mold mangrove woods to America, or how to survive when they lost the one and only potential buyer from America due to the 9/11 tragedy in the country.
These problems moved Irene to do something to keep Maharani alive. To widen her knowledge and networking in the handicraft industry, she joined e-commerce training, e-wallet training, and the ECP program by CBI and became a member of BEDO (Business Export Development Organization). She saw the need to adjust with the upcoming business, to match with what the current market needs.
Through this program, Irene learned many things related to export, especially to European countries, and that the mindset of ‘one-stop shopping’ can no longer survive.
In 2015, Irene took over as director replacing Mr. Aseng’s duties.
She inherited Maharani from Mr. Aseng and ran it both as the founder and the designer. Under her management, the company focuses on creating decorative interior elements made from shells, petrified woods, gemstones and other natural resources combined with brass.
All of Maharani’s products are designed by a talented in-house designer and handcrafted by a Balinese artisan. Irene cares about empowering and continuously improving the skills of her workforce and craftsmen around several areas of Bali that have passed down handcrafting jewelry techniques for generations and have been collaborating with Maharani for more than two decades. As well as committed to sustainable practices and fair trade and aim to decrease poverty and empower women to be independent.
In 2014, Irene initiated an idea to produce jewellery products at a more affordable price, using natural resources in Indonesia to revive the glory of Maharani Silver jewellery. Finally, in 2015, as the realization of Irene’s idea to perpetuate Maharani’s story, Maharani Craft joined Indonesia Fashion Week and launched this jewelry-based line of products called Manika Jewellery.
Cahyatur Eliza, who is usually called Eliza is also known as one of the founders of Manika Jewellery. She was born in 1974 in Malang, Indonesia. She began her career abroad in an open international market as a jewellery supplier for the European market including, Italy, France, the UK and Spain for almost ten years. She focuses on selling precious gemstones and silver jewellery which she got from India, Bali, and Thailand to European countries. In mid-2014, she came back to Indonesia and worked for Maharani as a merchandiser for “Nusa,” a brand from Amsterdam.
Later, she was asked by Irene, the Director of Maharani, to revive Maharani silver jewellery which had been extinguished due to the economic crisis, with a more affordable price using materials which are available in Indonesia.
After a long discussion, they finally decided to use brass as the basic material and combine it with other natural resources from Indonesia, and hire the local artisans who have been collaborating with Maharani to perpetuate the ancestor inheritance that has been passed down from generations. They try to keep the original shape of the materials (chunky, unpolish)and use rough style as the product design to minimize the imperfect handcrafted jewellery which is become the uniqueness of the crafts that can’t ever be compared with the machine.
The word “manika” in Sanskrit which means “precious gemstones,” was chosen as the name of the jewellery brand, as it represents the basic materials they use.
Based on Eliza’s experience, Irene appointed her to be fully in charge of the project, starting from the design, product quality, controlling, and marketing up to and including giving education about Manika Jewellery to the customer, until it’s well-known today.
In 2015, as the realization of their ( Irene and Eliza) idea, Maharani Craft launched their new jewelry-based line of products called Manika Jewelry in Indonesia Fashion Week.
Nowadays, Manika Jewellery not only has been well known by a lot of people, the ministry department, and government officers, but it’s also has reached the Asia market (especially Japan), and has achieved many awards in Indonesia.
Furthermore, Eliza hopes Manika jewellery will be able to go international and get the chance to join exhibitions abroad. Although it’s not easy, Eliza believes that by aligning perseverance, consistent and commitment with idea and character, they will surely be successful.