Jia CURATED 2026: Nature Weave Arrives on Bali’s Pengembak Beach

After being set amongst the ruins of an abandoned theme park in the past years, Jia CURATED found a home on the shores of Pengembak Beach, Bali for this year’s installment. It’s a unique location with multiple natural features like Sanur’s coastline, pine and mangrove forests, and a stream—making nature an important participant for how people experienced Jia CURATED this year.

Jia CURATED co-founder Budiman Ong details how the beachfront venue was perfect for this year’s theme Nature Weave, “Visually, we wanted a lot of forests so that we can weave exhibitors amongst the trees. Coming here, we saw there were so many elements of nature that actually exist in this space that the exhibitor can respond to. Also, we can sense that for the visitors it’s sort of an adventure.”

Ong’s relationship to nature through his work as designer and founder of decorative lighting atelier Ong Cen Kuang was a strong influence on how he wanted design and craftsmanship to be viewed at Jia CURATED. Simultaneously, he also wanted the theme to resonate with a larger audience. “I’m a designer so I look at how I work. I’m always observing nature. We tried to think about how other people will respond to the theme so we try to open it up for interpretation,” he adds. “So with Nature Weave we already thought about weaving nature physically and aesthetically into the exhibition. It’s an invitation to slow down and it’s about looking at what’s there and responding to that instinctively.”

Nature Weave in Practice: Ahti Interiors and CushCush

One exhibitor, Ahti Interiors worked with Bali-based architectural designer Alexis Dornier to design a booth inspired by the form of a traditional loom. Made of bamboo and handwoven jute fabric along the sandy beach, the installation provides a compartmentalized grid to exhibit the new collection of tapware designed by Dornier for the brand. The sophisticated collection features hand-hammered textured handles for faucets alongside stone sculptures by Maverick Lee.

“I embrace the creativity that people like Alexis bring to the table,” founder of Ahti Interiors Shalin Dewan says. “I think we need to be very open-minded as producers to break the boundaries and barriers that we are normally just used to. I’ve been in the industry for 15 years and I know what I know but I also know what I don’t know. So it’s always about embracing that aspect and trying to create something that is different.”

Balinese design studio CushCush built a booth with billowing fabric and poles reminiscent of trees. The floor is lined with volcanic stone and rice husk and imitates the sound of walking through a forest. Co-founder Jindee Chua also sprays a scent that smells like petrichor and fresh cut grass to complete the experience. At the center of the “forest” are pieces that were designed by French designers through their residency program. 

One of the pieces playfully called “Dress Me Up! The Balinese Way” designed by Studio Marcel Poulan is a lounge chair that was inspired by the traditional, portable Balinese back strap looms. The chair can be dressed up with naturally dyed textiles and becomes the seat and backrest.

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Designer and Artisan Credit at Jia CURATED

Alvin Tjitrowirjo, founder and creative director of Indonesian furniture brand AlvinT, worked with interior designer Chelsey McPhedran of Somewhere Concepts for their booth among the pine trees. The existing trees were connected by using metal string to hang upcycled fabric in natural dyes. Hanging above the furniture are illustrations by A. Jasmine – one captures a scene from the forest and how people worked together to gather natural materials to live while another contrasting scene shows natural materials being used in furniture in a more modern setting.

“We wanted to portray that in a modern setting, people can still have their community thriving and interacting and living together with, let’s say, furniture pieces that are still made by hand – made by nature,” Tjitrowirjo continues. “We want to portray this possibility that modernism is not only about technology, artificial intelligence, making things super fast, super seamless. Perhaps the future is more about being reconnected with nature.”

An s-shaped sofa curves inward and out providing plenty of seating while a three-tiered sideboard made of rattan were all made with close work with artisans and craftsmen. Tjitrowirjo passionately believes that the artisans are as important as the designers. “I think that this industry is built from the ways of thinking that come from Western teachings. In the Eastern part, we had different kinds of ways of looking at things, including who plays which role, who gets more credit, who gets celebrated and which are not, basically. And so I think sometimes we need to understand that we have this way of thinking, including why designers are the ones that get celebrated instead of the artisans. It’s simply because the industry was made in that way. But we understand that each of them, including even the farmer that takes the material from the forest, plays an important role as the designer.”

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The Balance of Designer and Maker

This relationship between designer and manufacturer was furthermore explored through the debut of the Philippine collective Newfolk at Jia CURATED. Curated by Gabriel Lichauco (who is also one half of design tandem Nazareno/Lichauco), Newfolk’s collection paired Filipino designers with different manufacturers and artisans. 

“I think that was the challenge. How can these designers come up with a work wherein they’re not in full control because you have craftsmen executing it? And of course, there are certain limitations on your imagination. How can you put them all together? I think I wanted them to experience that,” Lichauco continues. “Of course, that’s why I picked these manufacturers. I think we have to give credit to them. First of all, they were very supportive of the project. They were very welcoming to these designers. These designers have so many ideas. And these manufacturers need that to challenge themselves, challenge their craftsmen, right?”

Included in the collection are some heritage brands such as 50-year-old manufacturer Calfurn. Its business development officer Paolo Feliciano worked with young designer Jasser Aguila. “We specialize in furniture and furnishings made of woven natural materials. The only brief I gave Jasser was that the product needed to be something that would represent our expertise in natural materials and also something that is portable.” 

Aguila came up with the Vinta Stools – circular baskets topped with a seat and a carrying handle that doubles as a backrest. “It’s teamwork. The fact that we get to produce something out of nothing is in itself a reward,” adds Feliciano.

Guia Viray comes from the lineage of furniture makers and serves as the assistant design director of her father’s company Triboa Bay. “I’m in a unique position where I know both about designing and manufacturing. Design is very right brain while manufacturing is very left brain. You need both to make something possible.

For Jia CURATED, Viray showcases three products that she designed using veneer – the Hatch Dining Chair has layers of perforated veneer as its backrest while the Tulip Floor Lamp manipulates veneer into the shape of a tulip bulb. “I love how the veneer is so thin. You can make something so thin and elegant with it, yet it’s still real wood,” she adds.

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Gotong Royong

Lighting manufacturer Venzon collaborated with industrial designer Selena Placino to create a collection of lights made of metal with laser-cut leaves to resemble trees – a soft glow coming from the perforation. “Working with Selena felt like a dream come true,” Venzon’s brand manager Alexis Venzon recalls. “It all began when we started talking about how we really feel like a lack on both of our sides – as a manufacturer we’re searching for designers to work closely with, and as a designer she said it was hard to make her ideas because of limitations on operations or capital.”

The youngest maker at the Philippine Pavilion is Lamana, headed by Kay Concengco and has only began furniture making 7 years ago. Starting out as the exclusive manufacturer of Japanese furniture brand Ishinomaki Laboratory in the Philippines, Lamana is used to making designer pieces. For Jia CURATED, they debuted the Bato Bato Stick collection in collaboration with Nazareno/Lichauco. In contrast to the straight lines of Ishinomaki Laboratory, this collection has more organic shapes and incorporates woven details.

“The relationship of a designer and a workshop is very similar to the relationship of an architect and a contractor. The two work together toward achieving the product, and the workshop, with its experience from previous projects, is able to share its insights on the production viability of a design. The designer is the mind, the workshop is the hand. In the end, you are one body and your work is who you both become,” Concengco says.

The Indonesians have a phrase gotong royong which means “carry together”. It is one of the guiding principles of Jia CURATED that has seen an increase in the sheer number of exhibitors and visitors. The event’s growth this year is only proof of the sustained conversation about design, who makes our things and where do they come from. It is also a reminder that a product can only come to light when the designer and the maker have clear communication and are willing to “carry together”.

_{Photography by Jar Concengco.}

About Jia CURATED

Jia CURATED is an annual design event in Bali that brings together furniture, craft, architectureArchitectureThe art and science of designing and constructing buildings, structures, and spaces that are functional, safe, and aesthetically pleasing. It encompasses the planning, design, materials, and techniques used to createGo to Architecture Glossary, and collectible design through exhibitions, installations, talks, and performances. By connecting Indonesian, regional, and international creatives, the platform creates space for conversations around how design is made, who makes it, and the cultural and material contexts behind it. In its 2026 edition, held at Pengembak Beach in Sanur, Jia CURATED explored Nature Weave, highlighting collaboration between designers, manufacturers, artisans, and the natural environment.