Brilio.net/en - Hiro Prabantoro (44) never thought that his small industry of miniature wooden toys is able to enter the international market and even getting an order from the US Department of Defense at the Pentagon.
Over the last 9 years, Hiro has been diligently manufacturing miniature wooden toys. The products made by Hiro are not made from expensive raw wood materials, but they are made from the wood waste of furniture and sill industries.
With wood waste worth around IDR 300.000 or about a wagons worth, Hiro can produce 200-300 miniature toys. The marketing of Hiros miniature products has spread in five continents. In addition, his miniature toys have been sold in 22 countries.
The price set by Hiro for his miniature toys starts from USD 10 up to USD 2.500 per piece.
The income is not that much, around IDR 75 million per month. But it is enough money from a hobby, said Hiro who also works as a lecturers assistant in the magister of system engineering, Gadjah Mada University.
Incredibly, the enthusiasts of Hiros miniature toys are collectors from abroad. Besides, Hiros products are also enthused by the Pentagon, the US Department of Defense. Through his intermediary seller in Uncle Sams country, Hiro supplies several types of combat vehicle miniatures as souvenirs for the officers in that country.
Hiros Miniature Toys are also ordered by Hummer
Besides the Pentagon, the order also came from a car factory which is popular with its expensive price and stylish designs, Hummer.
Hummer also ordered Hiro Prabantoros miniature toys which are used for the marketing of miniature models. Hiro had also fulfilled the order of a Ferrari GTB 365 replica with a 1:1 scale for a collector in Australia. The order of this replica machine costs IDR 15 million.
Until now, Hiro admitted that he has been producing at least 1000 pieces of miniatures per month. For the plane miniatures, Hiro has made a miniature of the Wright Brothers plane up until a F-35 fighter jet. Ive made around 3000 miniature models up to this day, said this father of two.
Almost all miniature toys with various sizes can be made by him. Nonetheless, the most difficult model hes ever done is the panzer or tank miniatures because there are many structural details that should be noticed.
Hiro said that the manufacture of a replica tank miniature requires a lot of raw materials with about 2.000-3.000 pieces of wood. The processing time took a long time. It could be a month to work on 25 miniatures of tank replicas, he said.
Hiros creativity is a tangible manifestation of Indonesias booming creative industry. It would not be surprising if the Indonesian government suddenly throttles the creative industry onto the global stage very soon!