By Azlan Ramli
KOTO GADANG, a district of villages in Bukittinggi of West Sumatra, has many silversmiths and silver jewellery shops.
Among them is 52-year-old Syahrul, whom I first met in January 2017.
The former security guard and Bukittinggi native is the fourth-generation in his family to master the craft.
'Rul' started the business in 1992 before taking up a full-time job as a security guard in '95.
"I was doing silver work as a side business then," he said, while attending to my brother who is very much smitten by the many finely-crafted trinkets displayed at a small work-showroom section in the silversmith’s colonial-era bungalow.
The beautiful old house is one of many in the area formerly occupied by the Dutch masters right up to Indonesia's independence in '45.
With his calloused hands – though not as severely as a carpenter's – Rul gently and expertly files, sands, grinds, hammers and solders a silver ring my brother has picked. It is being adjusted to his (ring) finger size.
It was in October last year, and I was on my second trip there. Despite the many other much-bigger and more enterprising silver shops in Koto Gadang, I like this particular one.
Unlike my brother, I’m no fan of such things. I’m just a fan of Rul’s skills and the curious tools he uses for his trade.
The foot-operated pump-type, petrol-fuelled blowtorch always amazes me (even on my third trip to Bukittinggi and his shop last week!).
"But the problems during those years made life tough for me... for everyone... I had to quit in 2000," he said, referring to the 1996 political unrest in Indonesia which was followed by the many violent nationwide riots in '98. The concurrent Asian economic crisis made things even worse.
"I decided to do the silver business full-time, and more seriously," he added, adding that it has been good since then.
His many visitors' books list thousands of people from all over the world, many of whom became his regular customers. "There was even a Russian who came to learn from me," he said, smiling proudly, while showing his visitors’ logbook filled with names of people from cities and countries all over the world.
Since colonial times
The silver trade of Koto Gadang, as well as in two other notable places in Indonesia – Yogyakarta (Jawa island) and Bali – have been around for more than 100 years.
It was reported that Koto Gadang silverwork is already widely known and desired among the Europeans back home in the early 1900s.
The skill is mastered by the males of the community, handed down from fathers to sons, while the women are commonly experts at embroidering.
"My great-grandfather, grandfather and father were both gold and silversmiths. I chose to specialise in silver, instead."
There might be a fifth-generation silversmith in the family, one day – Rul's eldest son is learning the trade.
*Koto Gadang means “big city” in Minang language.
