Stories

Voices from a carved landscape

Voices from a carved landscape

Intiyah is nobody’s idea of a shrinking lily. At age 33, she runs a freelance wood carving business out of her house while raising her daughter. Yet, here she is, rigid with embarrassment from her new-found literary celebrity, at a book signing of Pelangi di Tanah Kartini in the Central Javanese town of Jepara. She blushes and giggles like the high school girl she never had a chance to be.

Intiyah is nobody’s idea of a shrinking lily. At age 33, she runs a freelance wood carving business out of her house while raising her daughter. Yet, here she is, rigid with embarrassment from her new-found literary celebrity, at a book signing of Pelan...
Jepara producers hone marketing skills during CIFOR’s annual meeting

Jepara producers hone marketing skills during CIFOR’s annual meeting

The Jepara Small Scale Furniture Producers Association (APKJ) exhibited at CIFOR's annual meeting for the second year running in October 2010. The nascent association is a key partner in CIFOR's Furniture Value Chain project. APKJ practiced their ever-improving exhibiting and marketing skills while FVC project members demonstrated some of the research results and outreach materials produced thus far.

The Jepara Small Scale Furniture Producers Association (APKJ) exhibited at CIFOR's annual meeting for the second year running in October 2010. The nascent association is a key partner in CIFOR's Furniture Value Chain project. APKJ practiced their ever-imp...
The faces behind Jepara

The faces behind Jepara

In the central Java district of Jepara, small-scale furniture workshops are a mainstay of the local economy. In recent years, however, furniture makers have been looking at fierce competition on two fronts. Manufacturers in China are underpricing them, and other furniture makers in Java are producing similar items. Almost a fifth of the furniture workshop start-ups in Jepara have failed in the past three years. Since 2008, the Furniture Value Chain project, has supported small-scale manufacturers in their efforts to improve their situation.

In the central Java district of Jepara, small-scale furniture workshops are a mainstay of the local economy. In recent years, however, furniture makers have been looking at fierce competition on two fronts. Manufacturers in China are underpricing them, an...
Carving out a better future

Carving out a better future

In Indonesia's Jepara District in Java, wood furniture workshops employ around 170,000 people. This is big business, with exports amounting to US$150 million a year. But all is not well. Small-scale producers get a meagre slice of the profits, and many live in poverty. A research project managed by CIFOR is shedding new light on the workings of the furniture industry, and helping to enhance the efficiency, and incomes, of small-scale producers.

In Indonesia's Jepara District in Java, wood furniture workshops employ around 170,000 people. This is big business, with exports amounting to US$150 million a year. But all is not well. Small-scale producers get a meagre slice of the profits, and many li...

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