Meet Jesslyn Sutisna | Product & Jewelry Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jesslyn Sutisna and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jesslyn, can you share a quote or affirmation with us?

“You don’t have to have it all figured out to move forward” – I really like this quote and I think this resonates with a lot of people my age. There’s a lot of pressure that we have to have everything figured out right after we graduate so that we can quickly become successful.

Life isn’t a linear path (I learned this after crying over FaceTime to my parents in Indonesia while I was living alone in the US) things don’t always go as planned – maybe you won’t get a job immediately after you graduate, maybe you don’t get to live in the city of your dreams, maybe you realize what you studied is no longer in line with your interests but that’s okay! There are external factors that we often can’t control, we’re also human, our needs, interests and situation are always changing, how do you know what you want right now will still be relevant in the next 5-10 years?

I’m usually the type of person that likes to know where I’m going and plan ahead, I get really anxious if things don’t go as planned or something unexpected happens and this way of thinking actually caused a lot of distress. I’m slowly learning to embrace uncertainty and doubt, to take things as they go and to just keep doing my best. It’s about trusting ourselves and being more in tune of what are the small realistic things we can achieve with our current capabilities and opportunities. It’s okay to not know what you want to do, we should instead focus on trying to better understand ourselves because we actually know so little of who we are as an individual. Then little by little (hopefully) it will lead to things we didn’t even expect.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.

I have a love for making, it’s my way of expressing myself and how I observe my surroundings. There is a certain kind of intimacy in the art of making (in any kind of craft), working closely with a material you get first hand experience to witness the material unveil its characteristics, potential & limitations. Making is a process of discovery, understanding and respecting the material for it to evolve and transform into an object we can further develop.

My background is Industrial Design, I received my bachelor’s degree at Rhode Island School Of Design and it was here where the majority of my design process & way of thinking took shape. This was where my love for making grew, from early on our professors encouraged us to avoid using 3D softwares and to instead learn & discover through prototyping, experimentation and actually make the products ourselves.
I have a lot of interests which was why I chose industrial design as a major, it can stem into different branches of the design field including mass manufactured products, furniture, service design and the more craft-based products such as jewelry & ceramics. I was still figuring out what I liked so I wanted the option of being able to try as many different things as much as possible.

During school I was very lucky to have interned in some great studios/companies including DoNotDesign (a Singaporean based graphic design studio), Observatory Studio (an industrial design focused studio that develops tabletop goods, furniture, consumer products, office products and more) and at Google as part of the Industrial Design & Hardware team. Each experience was different and received a lot of guidance and knowledge from the mentors and friends I made there! After graduating I was offered an Apprenticeship at Kate Spade New York as part of the Handbags team (another field of design I had never done!), after a year there I had to move back Indonesia due to the situation of the pandemic in 2020.

I was quite lost when I came home to be honest because there isn’t much opportunity in the design industry in Jakarta compared to the US. However, coming back home was also liberating because it was kinda like a fresh start so I thought I could turn this into an opportunity – to start making things again. The design industry in Indonesia is also still so raw and very craft-based which meant there was still so much to learn from and more room to experiment. I got a job as a product designer at AlvinT Studio (a furniture & interior focused design studio) where I got to learn more about local crafts and material and also decided to make my own jewelry brand on the side.

Making my own jewelry brand and collection has been a wish I’ve had since I started learning metal-smithing in school, so I started sketching, making models, bought some tools, got a little work bench from a mom’s friend and started getting my hands busy again. What was on my mind was “lets just try this and see where it goes, maybe this will be good, maybe it won’t, but I have to try.”

I didn’t really have a plan on how to run this business, I didn’t really want to call it a “business” either – my intention was to create pieces that reflected how I observed my surroundings. I believe that the objects we wear and use are a reflection of our experiences, how we feel and our aspirations. My wish was for people to enjoy wearing my pieces as much as I did making them. I put a lot of heart into each piece I make, I’m most content when I see a product that came from an image in my head take shape as I work with my hands. I was really nervous to release my first collection because in a way I was revealing a part of myself but I was really lucky to have received a lot of love from friends and family, and over time from strangers that were kind enough to share their support!

I still don’t know where this is going but I think consistency is key, if I keep making things with honest and true intentions it will eventually lead to good things, and it has! Having the opportunity to work and learn from different kinds of design industries helped me better understand what kind of designer and person I want to be.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?

I’d take them on a trip to different parts of Indonesia. I haven’t really explored much of my own country to be honest except for the typical tourist destinations but there’s actually a lot of hidden gems here. I think I’d turn it into a culinary trip, Indonesia is a country made up of 17,500 islands and each has a unique culture and way of living and of course a lot of flavorful food!

It would also depend on the person I’m taking around, if they’re more of a foodie I’ll take them to eat gudeg in Jogja, try rendang in Padang (if they like it spicy), and babi guling in Bali, we would maybe need more than a week to digest all this food. 
If they’re more of a sightseeing or adventure type of traveler I can take them hiking to Mount Bromo or snorkeling in Labuan Bajo. One destination I myself have never been to but would love to go with a friend is Raja Ampat in West Papua, it’s like an untouched gem and known for its beaches and coral life.

I’ll need to do a bit more research but these are some of the places that I can name at the top of my head, I think it will be a lot of fun!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?

I think I’ve been really blessed to have a family that really supports my dreams & passions. Mom is like my #1 cheerleader and dad is the fan watching and holding the biggest fan sign ever. My parents didn’t come from an art & design background but they do have a love and appreciation for local arts & crafts, I think that was how I was first introduced to the arts actually. So even though they didn’t come from the same world as I do they try to understand it and support what I do. They give me encouragement in moments of doubt and insecurities and remind me that it’s okay to not have it all figured out. I have a lot of interests and am still figuring out what kind of path I want to make for myself and they’re always there in case I need some guidance and always tell me to try as many things as I want and to have no regrets. I wouldn’t be where I am if it wasn’t for their sacrifices and for believing in me when I don’t believe in myself.

I’ve also met some incredible people along my studies – shoutout to my friends at RISD for all those sleepless nights at the studio, I had a lot of fun at school and learned a lot from my friends as each had a unique background and perspective. They taught me to be more open-minded and I think we all kept each other sane in the studio, you’d be dead tired but a short chat with a friend or a good laugh kept you motivated. There were a few professors that really shaped the values I hold in design till this day – Ken Horii, Matt Bird, Ayako Takase and Asher Rodriquez-Dunn. Thank you for making school both challenging & rewarding, thank you for pushing me to my limit and for your guidance and help! These people showed me the beauty & challenges in pursuing design and how the whole process of discovery is worth it and doesn’t have to be perfect.

Okay last one is for my best friend! I’ve known her since kindergarten, we basically grew up together but after we graduated high school she went to university in Australia and I went to the United States. Since the pandemic we’ve actually started calling each other almost every week to the point it feels weird if we missed a phone call for just a week. I think we both are at a point in our lives where we don’t know what it is we want to do and that it’s okay. Our phone calls have really helped me feel reassured and less anxious, that it’s okay to be a bit lost and that we can figure things out along the way. I can’t name everyone who has helped me along my journey but without the love and support from them I wouldn’t have been able to achieve the things I have.

Website: https://www.jesslynsutisna.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jsss.dsgn/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jesslyn-sutisna-814b26128/

Image Credits
Photos of jewelry (without flowers) were taken by Najmalya Poetri