Sandy Thema’s Pistos Designs Shine Bright Like a Diamond

Jakarta. Hundreds of Indonesian vintage traditional textiles covered the entire walls of the foyer of the Dharmawangsa Hotel Jakarta.

Among them were handwoven textiles from Sumba Island, East Nusa Tenggara, with tribal human and animal pattern, batik pagi-sore (day-and-night batik) from Pekalongan, West Java, and Batik Tiga Negeri from Lasem, Central Java.

The vintage textiles, some of which date back over a century, belong to the parents of Indonesian jewelry designer, Sandy Wijaya Thema Kurniawan, or Sandy Thema to his friends.

“That is the inspiration for my jewelry pieces,” said Sandy.

The soft-spoken man is the co-founder and chief designer of Indonesian high-end jewelry brand Pistos — worn by celebrities and socialites throughout the country.

His pieces have been seen on Indonesian actress Atiqah Hasiholan, singer Syahrini and socialite Inti Subagio.

And yet, being a jewelry designer was on the bottom of Sandy’s dream career list.

Sandy was born in Ambon, Maluku, in 1985 to a jeweler’s family. But his meticulous nature and penchant for details drew him to medical studies.

“I’d always wanted to become a surgeon,” he said.

After graduating from St. John’s College in Darwin, Australia, Sandy undertook medical studies at the University of Sydney. He then worked as a general practitioner in a hospital in the city.

But Sandy’s father, who was growing old, asked his only son to study gemology so that he could take over the family’s business.

Sandy relented.

In 2008, he traveled to New York to study gemology at the Institute of America.

“It turned out that I liked it,” said Sandy. “There is something about stones that mesmerized me.”

“Designing jewelry pieces is so much fun,” said the 30-year-old. “And it allows me much time to do my other hobbies.”

Most notably, music, of which the designer has been a lifelong fan despite a lack of encouragement from his family.

After completing the gemology course, Sandy returned to Indonesia to help his father’s business. With his good friend Dian Purba he also established a new jewelry line, Pistos.

“In Greek, Pistos means playful, genuine and trustworthy,” he said.

There are the keywords to describe Pistos designs. Together with Dian, Sandy created jewelry pieces for women which were chic, contemporary and elegant.

In the meantime, Sandy also pursued his long forgotten hobby. In 2010, the jewelry designer collaborated with top Indonesian song-writer Mus Mujiono and composer Georgie Leiwakabessy to create his debut album “Hello.”

Dian, his partner, was also busy with her other passion — food and the culinary world.

The two parted ways in early 2015, leaving Pistos in Sandy’s hands.

“It marked a new beginning for Pistos,” said Sandy. “Now it is all me [in designs].”

Sandy designed a whole new collection and gala show to relaunch the line.

“Until now, we haven’t had any proper launch for Pistos,” he said.

The new collection, Archipelago, was showcased at the Dharmawangsa hotel recently.

“I named it Archipelago because it’s inspired by Indonesia’s traditional riches, made in Indonesia by the skilled hands of Indonesian artisans.”

For the show, the grand ballroom of the Dharmawangsa  was transformed to resemble a tropical jungle, with foliage covering  walls and ferns reaching down from the ceilings.

Sandy collaborated with his good friend, fashion designer, Jeffry Tan, for the show.

“Jeffry’s dresses are simple, yet edgy, which  nicely complement my jewelry pieces,” said Sandy.

The jewelry designer didn’t meddle much with the fashion designs.

“I just asked Jeffry to create monochromatic pieces, especially in oxblood [red], which is the hot trend now,” said Sandy.

“I feel very fortunate with this collaboration,” said Jeffrey Tan. “I’ve known Sandy for a long time. And I’ve always adored his jewelry. They’re great; modern and contemporary, which are inspired by Indonesian traditional culture.”

Jeffry’s collection, themed Transparent Women, married well with Pistos jewelry in the show.

Draped dresses hung loosely on the torso created a sexy, yet elegant impressions on the models. Their elegance further enhanced with statement pieces from Sandy.

Beaded strands swathed the slender necks of the models. Some of the designs were reminiscent of the Dayak culture’s traditional jewelry.

Equally arresting was Sandy’s earrings. Bold, ornate and oversized, they are impossible to ignore. Made of gold-plated silver, they were adorned with semi-precious stones, including agate, amethyst, coral, turquoise and topaz.

A model donned a pair of earrings which looked like orbs, studded with malachites and pearls and pierced through the middle with sharp-looking golden spears.

“I was inspired by the tribal warriors in the old days,” said Sandy.

Indonesian top model, Kelly Tandiono, wowed the audience when she appeared on the runway with a simple black dress adorned with a unique necklace draped down from her neck and encircled her slender waist.

But the audience was dumbfounded when Indonesian supermodel, Paula Verhoeven sashayed down the catwalk, wearing Jeffry’s semi-transparent oxblood-red dress, devoid of any accessories except for a glittering tusuk konde — a Javanese hairbun pin.

The pin has the traditional-style gridded dome shape which covered the bun. On the grids were ornate etchings of hearts and flowers. The dome shape was affixed to the model’s hairbun with an elongated pin adorned with strings of jasmine at one end.

All the pieces were made of gold-plated silver by the skilled hands of Indonesian artisans at the Pistos workshop in Jakarta.

“I was inspired by a traditional tusuk konde from Karawang, West Java,” said the jewelry designer.

“It’s the most difficult piece in the collection,” Sandy continued. “It took almost one month to create that one piece.”

Sandy and his team of 12 artisans prepared the whole collection in only three months — but the results truly astounded the audience.

“I love the new collection,” said Alessandra Usman, second runner-up of Miss Indonesia 2010 pageant, who came to the gala night.

“The pieces are very elegant. When you wear them to a party, you’ll definitely steal the show.”

Indonesian fashion designer Patrick Owen also lauded the new Pistos collection.

“The pieces are bold, ethnic and dramatic, without being intimidating,” said Patrick Owen. “They would be nice to be worn with evening dresses and casual outfits alike.”

The pieces are priced at between Rp 1 million ($74) and Rp 12 million. They are available at the Pistos Boutique in South Jakarta, Alun Alun at Grand Indonesia Shopping Town and Metis Bali.

Pistos also offers a range of gemstone-studded clutches and handbags for women. They are designed by Sandy’s good friend, Ami for the brand.

The clutches and handbags are priced between Rp 2 million and 4 million.

Currently, Sandy is also preparing to launch a men’s collection for Pistos.

“It’ll be according to my personal taste; masculine and fashionable, without screaming too much,” said Sandy, who wore a signet ring, made of an ancient coin, on his middle finger.

The men’s collection would be launched during an intimate dinner in Jakarta in September this year.

The jewelry designer is also preparing a coffee-table book on Indonesia’s antique jewelry and textiles.

“Hopefully, I can launch it by the end of this year,” he said.

Sandy is also preparing his second and third music albums to be launched next year.

“My second one will be pop with a little bit of electronic influence,” said the jewelry designer.

Sandy’s third album will consist of Indonesian traditional songs in jazzy tunes.

“The album will have traditional songs from Jakarta, Sunda [West Java] and definitely Ambon, because I was born there,” said Sandy, with a smile.

Like a diamond, Sandy’s creativity and talents are indeed multi-faceted.

The Peak

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For more information, check out pistos.co.id.