Brightspot Market An Emporium of All Things Cool

The Jakarta Globe, Lisa Siregar

Brightspot is a curated market where organizers invite unusual brands to bolster the commercial ambience. Photos courtesy of Brightspot.

Brightspot Market is no ordinary bazaar. This event is a curated market, held every three months, with a different concept at a different venue. The Christmas edition, is set to open on Friday at Plaza Indonesia.

At their last event, 12,000 visitors packed the four-day market at Grand Indonesia in September. They either came to shop at the more than 20 booths that sold things such as clothes, books, bikes and cupcakes, or just hang out.

The booths at Brightspot are personally designed by tenants. At the last event, Katallog, a T-shirt seller, displayed its products on a pile of boxes and sloppy wooden racks. Instead of the brand’s name, “Sorry for the mess …” was written on the wall. Melissa, the popular brand of jelly shoes, glued giant lollipops on the bright pink wall in their booth, while a DJ booth was constructed from blackboards with the name of whoever was playing at the time chalked on.

When the organizers describe Brightspot as “a four-day market of all things cool,” they mean it.

“It’s a hip place because we also have a DJ on the spot,” said Nazyra Noer, who works in public relations for Future 10, the company which organizes Brightspot.

“People can feel the ‘cool’ ambience when they come.”

Future 10 isn’t interested in mainstream brands either. From the beginning, they decided the event would be a chance for creative local entrepreneurs to sell their wares. “Brightspot is a curated market, which means we choose every tenant for this event,” Anton said.

About 10 people in the organizing company, all with backgrounds in art, retail and music, are involved in selecting the tenants.

Having organized various events from music gigs to sales events for 14 years now, the crew from Future 10 all have their fingers on the pulse of their target market — Internet savvy young people aged from their teens to 35.

When the eX mall offered space and asked them to hold an event this year, Brightspot was originally intended to be a music gig.

“But we realized that that’s been done very often,” Anton said. And so the Brightspot market concept was born instead.

The Future 10 crew is mostly interested in artsy and quirky, unusual items.

“We wanted to offer a different shopping experience that made sense,” Anton said. “It’s not like going to a big mall and see similar things everywhere.”

Details to create ambience are also an important element. Tenants may decorate their own booths as they like, though the organizers give some direction and advice.

“We tell them that it is a form of trade show, which means people from large retailers from foreign countries will also visit as well,” Anton said.

“We want visitors to appreciate the creative ambience when they enter the market, the booth is a blank canvas for [retailers] to express their brand,” Nazyra said.

This time, more than 30 brands will participate in the market, including Cleo Awards finalists from the recent Jakarta Fashion Week showing off their collections.

Keeping with the fashion theme, Nina Nikicio will launch a signature dress that can be used to create up to 25 different looks. There will also be limited edition accessories by Nikidee on sale.

Other brands to make an appearance are Aksara bookstore, which is giving discounts on all books at the market, and Seba men’s footwear from Bandung.

Brightspot will also feature Scooter99, a company specializing in reconditioning scooters and building sidecars. The market will introduce scooters that have never been shown or sold in Indonesia before.

“Basically, we try to provide everything that has something to do with lifestyle,” Nazyra said.

Brightspot Market
Dec. 10-13
From 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
3rd floor Plaza Indonesia (next to Jade)

Retailers include:
Aksara (books and gifts)
Danjyo Hiyoji (women’s and men’s apparel)

Monday to Sunday
(women’s and men’s apparel)
Seba Shoes (men’s footwear)
Melissa by 707 (women’s shoes)
Feiyue by 707 (men’s shoes)
Katallog (gifts and accessories)
Cotton Ink (women’s accessories)
Scooter99 (scooters)
Koi restaurant (food and beverages)