New Design Ideas

One of Indonesia’s competitive edges is its creative industry. The nation, rich in arts and culture, has been able to develop numerous creative sectors that contribute to exports, primarily dominated by three main areas: fashion, crafts and culinary products. The export growth of Indonesia's craft products showed a rise of about 4.46% in the first half of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. Craft products to gain identity in the global market often use cultural product design approach . Cultural Product Design (CPD) is a concept in design where designers use cultural elements as inspiration and reinterpret them through contemporary design. Previous research employed grounded theory to explore the cultural product design (CPD) process as practiced by Taiwanese designers. Acknowledging that design process can be different due to cultural context, this study seeks to contribute to the literature by formulating a conceptual framework for the CPD process through an investigation of Indonesian designers, because currently there is little research about how Indonesian CPD designers conduct their design process. The data is gathered through FGD with six CPD designers focusing on their motivations, design processes and challenges. The researchers used grounded theory approach with open, axial and selective coding techniques to analyze FGD transcripts which produced categories and themes that developed into the conceptual framework. The analysis shows that CPD is a dynamic and nationalism driven CPD process that consists of six essential steps. The process starts with having the motivational driver which is the sense of nationalism and a genuine desire to draw inspiration from the designer’s own cultural roots and then proceeds to Investigate (in-depth cultural research) followed by Define (selecting culturally significant elements) and then Translate (transforming elements into design concepts) and Prototype (materializing ideas in collaboration with makers) and finally Validate (testing visual appeal the function and the intended meaning with users). The key novelty of the framework lies in fostering nationalism-driven CPD, positioning CPD as a form of cultural stewardship and a strategy for strengthening national identity. The framework provides a clear explanation of the key steps for using culture as inspiration. Each step is well-defined, making it useful for both designers and educators. The study expands the discourse on Cultural Product Design and provides a foundation for future empirical research on culturally driven design innovation.