New ITS Interior Design Department students wearing their own homemade vegetable costumes photographed and edited through collage

ITS Campus, ITS News – As one of the best campuses in Indonesia, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) does not hinder the creativity of its students. This time, the ITS Interior Design Department challenged the creativity of its new students with a unique task, namely designing costumes with the theme of vegetables for Orientation Week.

The activities designed in the Interior Design department at ITS are different from other non-design departments that held Orientation Week for new students. The Interior Design Department gives a unique task of making costumes according to the theme determined from used goods around.

As explained by one of the ITS Interior Design lecturers, Okta Putra Setio Ardianto ST MT, the task of making costumes from used goods is a tradition that is carried out every year in Orientation Week of the department. “Going through Orientation Week while wearing this unique costume has actually become a tradition from year to year,” he informed.

In order to give a unique and fresh impression, the theme of the costumes made by new students varies every year. For the new Interior Design students of batch 2020, the theme raised was vegetables. “This year you can see that some students became cucumbers, some become pumpkins and other vegetables,” identified Okta.

According to Okta, the assignment given on the third day of the Orientation Week was aimed at honing the creativity of the new students. In addition, it is also to encourage students to think critically and be sensitive to their surroundings. “We want contemporary aspects such as critical thinking, empathy, and agility to be applied to these new students,” he continued.

Even though this year all activities are carried out online, continued Okta, the traditions rooted to the department remain. New students are still asked to attend Orientation Week online wearing unique costumes that have been made according to the theme.

Okta Putra Setio Ardianto ST MT (top left corner) when attending the Orientation Week 2020 for Interior Design students virtually on the third day

After making their respective costumes, this lecturer who graduated Master’s from the ITS Architecture Department explained there is always a special session held at Orientation Week, where new students were asked to explain the costumes they made. “On that day we also held an appreciation session such as the awarding of the best costume title, because this gives appreciation to their hard work,” he said.

Along with the development of information technology and social media, news about cosplay’s duty to become a vegetable has also been viral on several media platforms such as Twitter and TikTok. The responses from netizens varied from appreciating the creativity of ITS students to laughing at the cuteness of some costumes. “Since it is online, so many netizens found out and it ended up going viral,” commented Okta.

With this Orientation Week, this man who was born in Ponorogo hopes that new students, especially in the ITS Interior Design Department, will be more enthusiastic in attending their lectures and also are more motivated to continue their creativity. “It is expected that making these costumes serve as a warm-up for them because there will be a lot of creations to make during lectures,” he concluded. (ri/ory/ITS Public Relations)