Seeing The Craftsman Of The Tangsel Spiritual Statue Ketiban Untung At Christmas Arrives, The Order Is Overseas

Construction of a spiritual statue in the North Lengkong area, Serpong, South Tangerang. (Jehan-VOI)

SOUTH TANGERANG - From the outside it looks shabby and unkempt like an uninhabited empty house. However, it turns out that the building in South Tangerang (Tangsel) has many handicrafts that are often flooded with demand, especially at Christmas moments.

The building is precisely standing on the edge of Jalan Jombang, North Lengkong, Serpong, South Tangerang. When he stepped into the 300 square meter house, Wednesday, December 25, VOI was greeted by a spiritual statue depicting the Virgin Mary.

Yes, the house is indeed a place for making spiritual statues.

Trying to go deeper, there are many statues attached by the craftsmen.

From that area, not far away there is a fairly large room. It appears that female workers are painting a number of spiritual statues.

With full accuracy, he colored the small parts of the statue.

The craftsman had joked, the difficulty was in the small statue because it needed to focus on the details.

Herman (52), the head of the craftsman at home, said that the construction of a statue in his place could take 2-3 weeks for a scale of 2-4 meters. Meanwhile, small sizes can be worked faster.

He said the 15 workers in his place worked together. They all divided the tasks so that the construction of the statue could be completed quickly.

"For the statue of Bunda Maria, the price is Rp. 20-40 million for a size of 2-4 meters. Meanwhile, Vieta is Rp. 14 million. For small sizes it is Rp. 100,000," said Herman.

"But we also receive orders for requests. For example with the color he wants. We do. Usually we give the usual price of Rp. 1 million. Maybe it becomes Rp. 1.5 million," he continued.

Herman also said that his party often flooded orders from various provinces in Indonesia before Christmas arrived. He also admitted that he had received orders from the United Nations (UN).

Ever from the United Nations in 2021. But Paking is often in Indonesia Province. For example this year there are 20 orders with different provinces," he said.

To make its customers return, Herman thinks about quality. For him, making a statue is not a matter of speed, but it takes accuracy so that the results are maximized

"One day you can get 10 statues with a size of 60 centimeters and one statue measuring three meters. For him, it's 1 day fast, but the finishing is old," he said.

Herman said the business of this statue craftsman had been running for decades. He also feels at home in South Tangerang, reluctant to move from the first time he operates.

"It's been 40 years operating," he said.

For the order, Herman admitted that he did not know. He was not involved in the conversation on the cost of making because what is important for him is to make a statue to the maximum. If that's the boss, if I just make it up," he said.