There is a sense of shyness and vulnerability to Sun Wahyu, but despite this it is hard to imagine the 27-year-old spending his day in the kitchen baking cookies. However for the past two years he has poured all of his energy into a venture focused on baking. When he realized that his career as a graphic designer wasn’t what he had hoped, Sun opened a small bakery.
“After I graduated from college, I worked for different companies in graphic design,” Sun said. But he didn’t like the often dreary routine of having an office job and began having second thoughts.
“I looked at my other friends working in graphic design, and they were really passionate about their jobs,” he recalled. “I didn’t feel the same and started to question myself: is design really the field I want to work in?”
During this phase in his life, Sun began to bake in his spare time and offered the cookies to his friends who all enjoyed the delicious treats. This was when the idea for a new business began to form.
“My penchant for baking started with my mom, who used to love to bake, and I helped her out so that must have triggered it,” he said, adding that one of his favorite childhood memories is how his mother would pick him up after school and bring him homemade cookies.
“It may be just a simple memory, but I still remember how nice it felt, and maybe I became nostalgic about it,” Sun said.
Surely/Someday + Kitchen offers a wide range of cookies as well as pound cakes. The products are delivered to the customer’s house but are also available for pickup.
“Most of our products are savory,” Sun said. “We try to keep things as simple as possible and avoid unnecessary decorations.”
Although Sun said that he doesn’t strive to sell over-the-top fancy creations, he still creates an interesting and unique choice of flavors for his products: from earl grey and honey lemon to raspberry pistachio and red sugar — the list of products are filled with little treasures waiting to be tasted and enjoyed.
His busiest time usually comes during the big holidays, shortly before Lebaran and Christmas, but with the help of his mother, Sun has no problems catering to the increasing number of cookie-loving Jakartans.
Sun also makes good use of his artistic skills that come from his background in graphic design, which are clearly presented on his visually appealing website and on the packaging of his products.
As for the unusual name Surely/Someday + Kitchen, Sun said that he was inspired by a Japanese movie called “Surely/Someday” as well as a song by Yoko Kanno of the same title.
“I love the spirit that was conveyed through the movie,” he explained, saying that he could perfectly relate to the characters. “The spirit of youngsters who are not sure about their future but still believe that it will be good.”
Sun’s fascination with Japan is also reflected in Surely/Someday + Kitchen’s website, which is bilingual in English and Japanese, giving it an international flair.
However, there is more to the name of Surely/Someday + Kitchen than Sun’s affection for all things Japanese.
“I like the mellowness of the word “someday,” this nostalgic feeling that you get when you see sunlight coming trough the curtain in the afternoon,” he said.
Sun also intends to maintain a mysterious side.
“I’m tried to avoid using a word that is related with dessert or sweets, so it’s not obvious from the start what we are actually selling,” he explained.
“I would rather make them curious and find out for themselves what Surely/Someday is all about.
Surely/Someday + Kitchen
www.surelysomedaykitchen.com
Twitter @suso_ki
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