The Influence of Cultural Traditions on the Design of the Furniture in the Dressing Room at Puro Mangkunegaran

Abstract

Puro Mangkunegaran is the residence of the king and his family. Puro Mangkunegaran is a picture of nature and a duplicate of the cosmos that has centrifugal power in its environment. Puro Mangkunegaran is full of historical and cultural values and contains functions, meanings, and symbols. For the understanding of functions, meanings, and symbols in this study, the researchers applied the qualitative method. Physically, the interior of Puro Mangkunegaran is equipped with furniture according to its needs, designed using ornaments that have certain cultural and philosophical meanings to maintain a balance between social ethics, cultural ethics, and personal ethics. In everyday life, traditions and ways of behavior related to culture are strongly imbedded in people living in this place. In addition, there are several things of those traditions and behaviors that have an impact on the design of this place. Western cultures also influence the design of the furniture, blending with Eastern culture which is still strongly maintained. One of those applied cultures is the Javanese way of sitting, namely sitting cross-legged on the floor, which becomes a characteristic of daily cultural traditions in the palace (Indonesian: keraton) environment. Results concerning the responses of perception indicate that (1) Javanese cultural behavior and manners, which have religious, philosophical, and cultural meanings, are the response to the expression of people doing it, and (2) cultural procedures in traditional rules influence the design of the furniture used.