TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - For Cliff Hartono, dream would just be a dream unless we take an act to realize it. And that what he did, Cliff left his job at the Bank Credit Suisse to pursue his childhood dream: owning a museum packed with fossil of organisms that had been buried for millions of years.
“Hunting fossil is my childhood dream,” said the 29-year-old to Tempo at the Bazaar Art Exhibition in Jakarta earlier this week.
His dream had brought Cliff around the world in search for many kinds of fossils.
“We found fossils of fish and turtles, leaves, aged million of years there,” Cliff recalled his first fossil expedition in Wyoming, United States.
Some of his collections found in Wyoming were displayed in Mal Pacific Place Jakarta in the Bazaar Art. Fossils of 50-million-year-old fishes named Knightia eoceana, Diplomystis dentatus, Miplous labracoides, and Priscacara Liops were among the displayed collections.
The fossils were all in whole since Cliff brought them along with the rocks where they nested.
“I want to introduce my gallery to the collectors in Indonesia,” said the Indonesian-descent German.
Cliff’s passion to fossil collections sparked when his father brought home a fossil of trilobite. Young Cliff was so amazed that he dreamt of opening a fossil museum. His passion continued to grow when he lived in England during the 2010 to 2012 where he often visited the country’s National History Museum. He is now settling in Singapore and opening a fossil gallery named Setinstone Gallery.
Although Cliff still has an obsession to hunt for dinosaurs’ fossils, he currently focusing on managing his fossil decoration business.
“Dinosaur fossils look cool. But not many people wants to buy it as a decoration,” Cliff added.
“I am thinking of opening a permanent gallery in here [Indonesia].”
Cliff sells a piece of the fossil at US$5,000 to US$10,000.
ANANDA BADUDU