When we first started, graphic design wasn’t really needed in our community.

Now, if we look at markets such as Pasar Baru or Mangga Dua, we’d see a lot of t-shirts that have similar designs as ours. We made the designs, and we know the combination of colours, and then all of a sudden we find similar ones. Lots of producers just follow trends, but at least we had an impact.

Once, we printed our book. A lot of the people who bought our books were people who also made t-shirts. So instead of going to stores and do their own research, they could just read our book. In a sense, we made a bible. Not to toot my own horn, but I noticed that a lot of stores used our designs as their references.

Of course it’s bad for our business, even if it means that we have made a contribution. But such things are inevitable.

Dendy Darman.