Rani Prihatmanti’s experience at the George Town UNESCO World Heritage Site has changed the way she look at cultural heritage objects.

It all began when she pursued my Master degree at Universiti Sains Malaysia-Penang in 2010. Her previous research project had led her to actively participate in cultural heritage conservation workshops and conferences, locally and internationally, until today. Although her background is from interior design studies, she has a strong passion for studying the philosophical meaning of the motifs, patterns, symbols, materials, and colours that are applied to building ornaments, and also to the textiles used in the interior. Her interest in textile research has brought her to conduct an international level research on the endangered Javanese wayang klithik attire, in collaboration with The British Museum and Universiti Sains Malaysia. Apart from interior design and textiles, she is also interested in understanding cultural food and its ethnobotanical system as a manifestation of a cultural product.

She is a senior lecturer in the Architecture Department in the School of Creative Industry, Universitas Ciputra Surabaya, Indonesia. At the same time, she is also a Graduate Research Assistant in the School of Housing, Building and Planning, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang. As a researcher, she actively publishes in academic journals and presents her work at international conferences. Her dedication in safeguarding the intangible cultural heritage (ICH) has led her to become the Vice-Director of the Universitas Ciputra Center for Creative Heritage Studies (UC.CCHS). In early 2022, UNESCO Bangkok awarded her a scholarship to participate in their Sustainable Heritage Management masterclass program to escalate her ability in conserving the cultural heritage in the most sustainable way.