Jaya Ibrahim

Jaya Pratomo Ibrahim (17 April 1948 – 5 May 2015) was an Indonesian interior designer best known for his works in hospitality design. A protégé of British actress-turned-designer Anouska Hempel, his works are characterised by a trademark colour-coded symmetrical design. Often described to be calming and tranquil, amongst his most celebrated works are the interiors for The Legian in Bali and The Setai in Miami.

Early life and education Ibrahim was born in Yogyakarta, Indonesia on 17 April 1948, to a Sumatran diplomat and a Javanese princess. He spent his childhood moving between his grandmother's Java home and travelling with his parents. As a child, he had aspired to become an architect—a dream that was not realised due to his parents' aversion to the career choice. After moving between Indonesia and Singapore, he later enrolled at the University of York to study Sociology and Economics. Following his graduation from York, he briefly took a job as an accountant for a year before leaving after being discouraged by the job's demands. He joined the back of house at Anouska Hempel's Blakes Hotel in London as a dishwasher. There, he met Hempel, who later took notice of his attention to detail and made him her assistant. Having observed Ibrahim's consistently symmetrical and colour coded table settings for her lunches, Hempel ultimately decided to train Ibrahim as her apprentice. Often characterised by the media as exuding calmness, tranquil and inviting, the favourable reception to his designs have been attributed on his decisions in making a pragmatic and functional design that revolves around its setting or location as a focal point. In a 2012 interview with Indonesia Design, he ascribed the success of his works to the liveability of his designs, through well-thought out circulation along with symmetry that he claims induces relaxation. influenced by the Memphis movement and the works of architect Sir Edwin Luytens. Citing a lack of projects due to the UK's then economic woes, Ibrahim returned to Indonesia in 1992 to establish his own design practice in Yogyakarta. first conceived as an apartment complex, the building was converted into a hotel after sudden revocations of the site's residential permits. The success of The Legian earned him considerable international recognition, which led to significantly more hospitality-related projects for Ibrahim in the next decade.

Between 2003 and 2009, he worked on the interiors of the Capella hotel on Sentosa Island, which later served as the setting of the 2018 North Korea–United States Singapore Summit. In 2012, a book on Ibrahim's designs, entitled Jaya: Contemporary Design with a Pedigree, was published. In the same year, a namesake hospitality brand under the name Jaya Hotels & Resorts was launched; the project was halted upon Ibrahim's sudden death in 2015 and never materialised despite renewed backing by Two Roads Hospitality in 2017. In 2014, he was awarded the Outstanding Contribution Award at Hotel Design Awards in Singapore.

Death and legacy Ibrahim died on 5 May 2015 after sustaining injuries from a fall in his house in eastern Jakarta. A funeral service in his name was conducted shortly after at Capella Singapore, the site of one of his projects. His firm, Jaya International Design (JID) was later acquired and absorbed into Singapore-based design practice, Blink Design Group in 2017. The restaurant at Miami's Setai Hotel, Jaya, was posthumously named in homage of Ibrahim.

Selected works

The Legian Seminyak, Bali, Indonesia (1992) Rosewood Dharmawangsa Hotel, Jakarta (1997) The Setai Miami Beach, Florida, USA (2004) The Nam Hai, Hoi An, Vietnam (2006) The Datai, Langkawi, Malaysia (2007) Aman at Summer Palace, Beijing, China (2008) Capella Hotel, Sentosa, Singapore (2009)

Gallery of works