@hibranwar

by Aika Mentari · July 11, 2025

The Most Important Lesson: ‘Bodo Amat Jelek Juga’ — Don’t Care If It’s Ugly

Normally we show off beautiful work from our customers. Detailed drawings, neat writing, creations that make us proud. Today we are showing something different. Something from our own founder, Ibrahim Anwar (@hibranwar).

This is a confession. An experiment. A beautiful failure.

“Biar Ga Kalah Sama Customer” — So I Am Not Outdone by the Customers

The story is simple. As a maker of journals, sometimes I feel a distance. I make the vessel, but it is the customers who fill it with a soul. So I tried. I wanted to feel what they feel. I bought the cheapest watercolours I could find—about twelve thousand rupiah—and I tried painting on one of our own products.

The result? You can see for yourself. A lonely tree. Colours in slight disarray. As I wrote in the caption: “Apa daya. Emang ga bakat lukis.” — Nothing to be done. I simply have no talent for painting.

Then I wrote something else on the cover, something far more important than the painting itself: “BODO AMAT JELEK JUGA.”

The Essence of an Empty Book

And there, inside that ‘failure’, I feel like we found the purest essence of Hibrkraft. We do not make this book to be filled only with masterpieces. We make it to be a safe space. A space for trying. A space for failing.

Because the creative process is not always beautiful. Often it is awkward, ugly and full of doubt. And you need somewhere that will not judge you. Somewhere you are free to write “Bodo Amat Jelek Juga” on the cover.

Perhaps the purpose of a sketchbook is not to be filled with perfect work. Perhaps its purpose is to be a safe place to be ugly. A place to experiment without pressure.

We are leather artisans. We are skilled at sewing, cutting and shaping. We are not painters. But we understand what a painter needs, what a writer needs, what a thinker needs. The need for a silent canvas that will accept anything at all, even the ugliest work.

We only build the house. You are free to make a mess inside it.

Do you need somewhere safe to be imperfect? We will have the canvas ready.