Han Chandra: an Artisan of His Own Identity

For all labels the world put upon him, he define himself as an “Artist”. Han Chandra is widely known as an Indonesian supermodel that has even stepped into international modeling scenes. If you’ve been following him for a while, you must have realized that he has also tried to write a book, become an illustrationist and release a song, and lastly building his own hydroponic farm that he is proud to call “Kebun Kohan”.

He comes to Bodas several times, and everytime he enjoys his cup of coffee and croissant, we wonder how it feels to be Han Chandra. We decided to ask him to enter our lens, so he can show us everything about his point of view – the face of reality for Han Chandra. Han agreed to do the appointment and we have a chance to have a deep talk together.

From the point he entered the room, he showed less of what we think his persona would be. He’s really warm, calm and friendly. He chose to have our Bottled Idec Signature Coffee to start the day and jump right into the conversation.

We ask him about something that surely gets people’s attention about his work – his decision to become an agriculturist which is a thing that is really the opposite from the world that has raise his name – Modelling. He explained to us that his farm is bigger than just a business. It’s about his calling to make a change.

He explained and showed us his point of view, “I have a friend from Hong Kong, and he is dreaming and imagining having a vast land and great resources, and I saw that in Indonesia. How come as a country that was once called an agrarian country now importing rice, or for example, importing vegetables from abroad?”

“What motivates me, not just selling products, but hopefully in the future there can also be a community for young people to build an enthusiastic spirit to continue to survive”. Knowing his own influence on the young generation, he envisioned changing the culture and shifting agriculture face to be prestigious again in Indonesia, especially for the future generation.

Since he has done a lot of great works in various interests, we ask to what point he could see himself as a successful person. He said “In my personal opinion, success means being better everyday, that’s how it is.” For him, success is not mainly about how much you gain, but rather about expanding what you have inside.

Maybe a lot of wise people will tell us to put our focus on one dream. But for him, “When it comes to the philosophy of everything I do, I believe that everything starts with the man in the mirror. So it starts from everything I already have. I don’t see what other people have, I don’t see what other people can do, but I try to look at myself because every person must be given by God to have one talent. That is the minimum number.”

What’s been a driving impulse for him to do whatever he does right now is to bold his own self. Happiness is when he could see himself growing through any ability he has. It’s not even about a competition. It’s about caring one-self identity to make it grow from what it has primely. “…if we believe and we are loyal to the talents we have, surely those talents will develop into the second, third, fourth, fifth, even the 10th talent because we really try to see ourselves from what we have, not what others have.”

For a person who is so talented in many aspects, we just wonder how he could formulate his own identity without feeling lost. So we gave him a chance to reintroduce himself through this talk. And when he told us who he is, “…of all the professions I’ve been in, I really want to be known in the future more as an artist, because an artist brings an expression of feeling.”

To help us understand better about his self-defining statement, he said “… Taste, Texture, Artisan do relate to my life because in everything I do, I need something called taste. Taste is an expression of emotion, and as an Artisan, as a creator, you definitely need to be a creator that is able to express the Taste, the Texture, how it can be seen from its beauty.”

We (and probably most of you would) thought that after he became a supermodel, he would accompany his self-image as a muse for many brands and stories. What enabled us to channel him better was his explanation, that “When I become a model, I have to bring other people’s work and have to be able to interpret the expectations of the designer. But when I become an artist, I can express myself and can be myself.”

Han Chandra not only gave us – the blank canvas – a new perspective of his, but he has shared and deepened the same value that we both have. The point of view is, it is not about a defining game toward yourself. It’s about being an artist of your own identity, of what you are able to achieve and about who you really are above any labels people might put into you.