JAKARTA (indo.com): The Indonesian cultural treasury is vast, with almost all aspects of human life being manifested, practiced, marketed in a diversity of ways by the country's hundreds of ethnic groups. One of these manifestations is personal adornment in the form of jewelry.
Jewelry is the product of human culture, the result of an idea, feeling, skill, perseverance and creativity. It is not static, but progresses with the progression of time and therefore provides clues to the lifestyle of a given time in history.
The art of making jewelry is known throughout the archipelago, practiced by each ethnic group in its own particular way. Thus, local nuances deriving from ethnic traditions, the outlook on life, symbolic values and the foreign influences that have reached the area have given immense diversity to the world of Indonesian jewelry, and yet amongst all this diversity we can catch glimmers of similarity. In all aspects of Indonesian life, the national motto of "Bhineka Tunggal Ika", or Unity in Diversity, is very much a reality.