Craft Arts and Tourism in Ceramic Art Village of Kasongan in Yogyakarta

Yogyakarta is one of Indonesia’s major tourist destinations. This is due to its nature, interesting, unique and fantastic ancient cultural and art sites. Creative industries and the ceramic crafts play an important role in the development of tourism in Yogyakarta. In this paper, ethnographic approach is used to describe the creative process and the ceramic crafts industry in the village of Kasongan, Yogyakarta. Based on the results of the field research, the authors conclude that the ceramic crafts tourist village of Kasongan is moving toward greater commoditization whereby the ceramics centre is now more oriented towards meeting the needs of tourist industry in Yogyakarta. Due to extensive interaction and the positive response from the general public, ceramic crafts practitioners of Kasongan experience unique and characteristic creative period. The crafters manage to negotiate between the old and the new values, in the village one can find both traditional pottery and new, creative and innovative ceramic products of export quality. Today, Kasongan is a trade mark ceramic tourism village that is entering the global era.