We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ivana Darmawan. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ivana below.

Ivana, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

The name Kasih Co-op holds deep meaning for our business. Kasih is an Indonesian word that means “love” or “care,” and Co-op refers to the collaborative groups of artisans we work with.

Having grown up in Indonesia and later moved to Los Angeles to attend UCLA, I’ve always felt a strong connection to my cultural roots. When I started the business, I want the business to showcase Indonesian products and I want to reflect this connection by choosing an Indonesian word that was both meaningful and easy to pronounce.

Our business is built on a foundation of working with Indonesian artisans, with over 55% of them being women-owned businesses. We are deeply committed to preserving traditional crafts like batik and ikat, which have been passed down through generations.

The inspiration for the name also stems from my experience working with an Indonesian microfinance company back in 2007. I saw firsthand how microloans empowered women to support their families and break the cycle of poverty. This experience inspired me to create a platform where Indonesian artisans—especially women—could share their handcrafted goods with the global market.

By naming the company Kasih Co-op, we aim to reflect the love, care, and collaboration at the heart of our work, and our dedication to uplifting communities through artisanal craftsmanship.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m Ivana, the owner of Kasih Co-op. We partner with Indonesian artisans to create handcrafted pieces for the home and lifestyle, including batik bandanas, kimono robes, ikat pillows, poufs, and teak wood tableware.

At Kasih Co-op, our mission is to support women artisans and preserve traditional crafts. Every product purchased helps maintain these artisanal skills while scaling their businesses and celebrating the rich culture of Indonesia. We work closely with our artisans, from batik fabric producers to seamstresses and ikat weavers, to bring their stories and craft to the world.

One of the things I’m most proud of is our hand-dyed batik bandanas. Batik is a 700-year-old Indonesian art form where wax is applied to fabric to resist dye and create intricate patterns. For our bandanas and robes, we combined two batik stamps on a single fabric—a task that took time to perfect. Unlike mass-produced items, our pieces are unique. The handwoven cotton fabric from Indonesia goes through multiple steps, including waxing, dyeing, sun-baking, and boiling, which results in slight variations in size and color. These imperfections make each piece truly one-of-a-kind, showcasing the beauty of handcrafted batik fabric.

Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.

Yes, at Kasih Co-op, we design our products in-house and partner with Indonesian artisans to manufacture them. However, we didn’t start this way. When we first started our brand in 2012, we worked with an Indonesian designer who both designed and manufactured her own products. Through this experience, we realized we wanted more control over the product design and manufacturing process, so we could incorporate our knowledge of the U.S. and global markets into our creations.

For example, sizes in Indonesia tend to run smaller than international standards, and we found that traditional Indonesian batik often uses brown and black tones, whereas U.S. customers prefer blues, and more colorful tones. By being involved directly in design and production, we’ve been able to adapt these details to meet global preferences.

We also had to refine our process over time. We work with several batik artisans, and each required us to establish standard operating procedures to ensure consistency in colors and sizes. This can be challenging, as our artisans hand-mix dyes, which can lead to slight variations, and the sun-baking process can cause fabric colors to vary depending on the season (rainy versus dry).

One of the key lessons we’ve learned is the importance of documenting our processes. We keep fabric samples and share them with our artisans to ensure consistency in each batch. This iterative process has become a strength of ours, allowing us to maintain the artisanal quality of our products while meeting the needs of our customers.

We are also very proud that our collaboration with artisans is what makes our products and brand unique, as we successfully blend traditional heritage crafts with modern market demands. This partnership allows us to preserve the authenticity of Indonesian craftsmanship while adapting it to contemporary global trends, something that is unique to our brand.

Does your business have multiple or supplementary revenue streams (like a ATM machine at a barbershop, etc)?

Yes, Kasih Co-op has developed multiple revenue streams. We initially launched as an e-commerce business on our website, www.kasihcoop.com, focusing on direct-to-consumer sales. Over time, we expanded to other online marketplaces, including Etsy, Wayfair, and eBay, to reach a broader audience; still in the direct-to-consumer space.

In recent years, we’ve also grown our Business to Business B2B channels by selling wholesale to boutique retailers. Our products are available through platforms like Faire and Bulletin, and we’re now in over 60 retail stores across the U.S., Canada and Europe. While wholesale typically offers lower margins than direct-to-consumer sales, it provides lower customer acquisition costs and more consistent reorders. In the current economic climate, having diverse revenue streams has been vital for our sustained growth.

We are also continuously exploring new opportunities to diversify our revenue streams. This includes investigating additional sales platforms like Depop, Mercari, and Whatnot. Moreover, through our membership in the Nest Guild, we are exploring collaborative partnerships that leverage our artisanal expertise and expand our brand’s reach. These efforts not only help us grow but also strengthen our commitment to supporting artisan communities and promoting ethical craftsmanship.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kasihcoop.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kasihcoop/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KasihCoop/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kasih-co-op/
• Twitter: https://x.com/kasihcoop
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@kasihcoop
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@kasihcoop

Image Credits

Two photos of batik bandanas and the photo of our batik copper plate stamp and batik canting tool were taken by Kasee Shambora; see https://www.kaseesphotography.com/

The rest of the photos are our own Kasih Co-op’s photograph.