CRAFTS — As a tourist city, Yogyakarta is also famous for its high-quality craft products. One of them is Tjokrosuharto located on Jalan Panembahan, Kraton, Yogyakarta. The location is in the Wijilan area which is famous for its gudeg cuisine.
Tjokro Suharto was established in 1930 and is now managed by Rifki Kusumo Harimawan who is the 3rd generation of Tjokro Suharto.
“I have been managing this outlet since 1993, while my parents have been managing it since 1986, continuing the business that my grandfather pioneered in 1930,” said Rifki who was met at the Tjokrosuharto Arts and Crafts outlet, Thursday (8/8/2024).
Other commodities sold are Keris and Heirlooms, Javanese clothing, traditional ceremonial clothes, wayang kulit, gamelan, wood and horn crafts. Unlike the keris collections of other stalls, Tjokrosuharto’s keris collection is included in the category of sepuh, duplicate and accessories.
Sepuh Keris are sold more expensively because they are included in collections from the kingdom era such as Mataram, Majapahit, and others. In addition to being forged by heirloom masters, sepuh keris have tahan, dapur and pamor that can only be found in the kingdom era.
“Eyang used to like collecting keris. In the past, the keris were sold in besekan. We keep our eyang’s keris and heirloom collections separately in another place, but they are not sold,” added Rifki.
Rifqi explained that the price of keris varies greatly. The cheapest keris accessories are only hundreds of thousands of rupiah. Duplicate keris are more expensive and can reach more than one million. An intact and well-maintained old keris can be more than IDR 5 million.
Rifki admitted that Tjokrosuharto is also identical with his batik tulis. Although he also sells printed batik, Tjokrosuharto’s batik tulis has customers from artists, ministers to former presidents such as SBY, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, and several other artists and celebrities.
According to Rifi, so far, Tjokrosuharto’s commodities have not only been sent to the domestic market. Tjokrosuharto’s handicrafts have also been exported to several neighboring countries such as Singapore and Malaysia. In the foreign market, batik tulis, traditional ceremonial clothing, and traditional dance clothing are the most ordered by consumers.
Expedition
Because most of the orders are online, Tjokro Suharto needs an expedition service to send customer orders. And for expedition shipments, Tjokrosuharto chooses JNE as a shipping partner because it has many advantages compared to other expeditions.
“JNE has a fast response to customer requests, and provides solutions if consumers experience problems. There is a pick-up service, consumers need to be sent quickly, today or tomorrow it must arrive, can be fulfilled by JNE. Even the accuracy to the destination is good, good handling,” said Rifki. Therefore, during the Pandemic, orders actually experienced a spike in shipments because many orders were made online.
“Tjokrosuharto is one of JNE’s loyal customers. Tjokrosuharto’s commodities can be packaged well according to consumer demand, whether it’s keris, batik, to gebyok which has a jumbo size. “said Rifi. (*/Sulist Ds)
