Swagat Magazine, February 2004

CLIVE OF KUTA

The famous landscape architect is trying to bridge the gap between Bali and India through his vision of tropical gardens, writes Malvika Singh

Photographs courtesy by Made Wijaya

Made Wijaya surrounded by luscious greens that he loves to celebrate

e is a riot. He takes over the space he enters with his sharp repartee and cutting-edge humour. His vitality is infectious. He trained in architecture and is passionate about gardens, greens and courtyards. And, most important, he changed his name from Michael White to Made Wijaya spreading his roots, first in his adopted land then across the world.

Made Wijaya is now in India doing some exciting work for the Taj Group. He says: “By the grace of the good Taj Hotel Group, I am starting to rebuild the aesthetic bridge between Bali and India that once existed 1,000 years ago but with the traffic now flowing the other way, Bali has the best tropical gardens in the world, India has none; well, none I have found in 20 years scratching around the potscapes of the beloved sub-continent. Something went seriously wrong between the end of the Mughal era, with their incredibly poetic gardens and the gardens one find at most Indian hotel today.”

Made belongs to a wonderful generation that broke loose, one that had soulmates in almost all countries of the world. Hippies were special. They were real people. Great music came from that era as did many creative endeavours. Design changed. Attitudes changed. Life and living was beginning to change and opportunities that were unimaginable earlier moved from being a mirage into something more tangible. That was the prevailing ethos when Made jumped ship, virtually, swam ashore and hit Lombok, then went on to Bali where he fell in love with the place and its people. He stayed on, a stranger in paradise.

A graduate of architecture, a tennis instructor in Bali, a student of Balinese dance and theatre for six years, a ‘gardener’ and landscape architect, a magnum opus – The architecture of Bali, amongst others, Made started his entrepreneurial life by initiating a mobile restaurant on a rickshaw ! It was called Warung Madura – cooking as art. Needless to say, it was a hit.
When he first arrived in Bali, he was taken over by a local Brahmin family and took a job as a tennis coach. He taught himself all the Balinese languages and found himself happily “embedded” in the all-encompassing ritualistic life of his adopted home.
Without mastery over language, the culture of the area remains alien. Made learned the language and made sure he became a “native”.
He went back to Australia for a short stint, to get his degree, where he was thrown in with the “haute bohemians”, a breed of creative and unusual people, doing interesting projects that deviated from the existing norms, people who were willing to experiment with new ideas, designs and concepts. Many of his future professional breaks came from this bedrock, from people like Geoffrey Bawa and Peter and Carol Muller. These were people of great achievement, who had planted their indelible stamp wherever they worked, wherever they went.

Today, having worked in Java, Bali in other parts of Indonesia, Singapore and most of South East Asia, he has found his way back to India. Fifteen years ago, the Four Seasons chain brought him to Goa to work on their hotel, the Leela. “ Bombay, en route to Goa, was all squalor, there were no gardens and green spaces, only potted plants. It was all very depressing,” he says. But India is the mother of south East Asian tradition and over time, Made came to know the country better.
Made worked on many prestigious projects in South East Asia. Apart from homes, he has many hotel landscapes under his belt ranging from some of the Aman resort properties to the large international chains. To list a few, The Oberoi in Bali, the Hyatt in Perth, Singapore and in Bali, ambassadorial residences in South East Asia and hotels in Jakarta.

After a lapse of many years, out of the blue, in March 2003 he got a call from the Taj group of hotels, inviting him to India. A senior manager had been browsing in a bookshop, flipping through the pages of Made’s book on Tropical Garden Design. Drawn to the images, he got in touch with Made and asked him to consider working on some of the group’s properties: their holiday village in Goa, the Lake Palace in Udaipur with its myriad courtyards, Fisherman’s Cove on the Chennai coastline and the splendid, sprawling, rather colonial Westend in Bangalore.

The lyrical quality of the Mughal gardens is what inspires Made his work	'Ordered Jungle" was how Made's work was referred to once.
It is evident that Made wants to give a free hand to nature as it exists

All diverse properties with distinct needs. By June this year, Made had begun work with his group of “commandoes,” his Balinese workforce along with local workers.
Says Made: “Over 25 years of making gardens in various tropical locales, this wonder has grown into a deep respect. It is the sort of respect the animal trainer has for a wild beast….the phrase, “ordered jungle” was used sometime ago to describe my work at the Bali Hyatt in Sanur. Keeping a tropical garden on that edge of fecundity before it turns to an unsightly mess, is hard work. Taking on the care of a tropical garden is taking on maintenance.” Indigenous plants and trees, local seasonal flowers, ponds and water bodies, gentle paved pathways, terraces at different levels, subtle lighting, grand, traditional entrances into the garden space are his speciality. In his scheme, courtyards and verandahs are not bland empty areas from where to enter and exit but are in fact alive with energy and personality. They contrast the serenity of the outdoors with their hustle and bustle.

Made maintains a fine balance between architecture and gardens

Made is a romantic and his work reflects that. He believes in eliminating the “pot scape.” He is not. “gripped by brown shirt minimalism”, to use another of his expressions. His endeavour is to “liberate the Lake Palace from its staid confines”, as a first example of his dream for India. This he will do by working on the courtyard, making them into lush comfort spaces, where contemplation is possible.
Up at 4.30 every morning wherever he is in the world, he goes through the day at a frenetic pace, carrying his “workforce” with him. This is how he delivers the goods! His life and his work are his recreation and leisure.
We neglect our green spaces, we allow them to go to seed. It is time we created these ‘gardens’ of peace and tranquility, oases for quiet, solitude and contemplation.
Are these ‘Sacred Groves’ Made’s offering to the Gods of the archipelago, the land that adopted and absorbed him?.