When asked about the difference between cycling in Yogyakarta and Jakarta, Endo answered with, “In Jakarta you see concrete after concrete, even after you’ve rode for 50 km to the outskirts of the city. Whereas in Yogyakarta, it’s like having visual meditation through a lot of natural scenery.”
As an architect, Denfarino Endo loves cycling to the project site when there is no schedule for a client meeting. He is the Head Architect at Nuvosis, an architectural studio based in Yogyakarta which he built himself in 2017. Lately, more of his projects take place in Jakarta, and cycling comes handy to tackle the traffic. In 2019, Endo built a commuter bike, Surly Cross-Check . He finds Cross-Check to be more suitable as it has multi speed and a rack to put his daily essentials. “Now I manage to commute by bicycle 3-4 times a week,” said Endo.
Through architecture, Endo learns to be flexible with new ideas and to be out of his comfort zone. In his work, he chooses to find the middle ground between his architectural idealism and what the clients need. "Nuvosis has to come up with an authentic solution for every specific problem". For him it is also important that I have to keep up with new trends and lots of references to help the studio grow.
Apart from his job, Endo has a hobby in culinary, in particular "Soto", which he compiled into an Instagram page named 365harinyoto. He started it to give himself a break from the daily routine. “I like Soto, so I invented a challenge related to my hobby in Soto hunting,” said Endo. With his bike, Endo visited different places to try different Soto for each of 365 days. The farthest he ever got to try Soto was in Singapore when he went for a holiday with his mom.
“The soto I tried in Singapore was more similar to Soto Mie, and tasted like East Java’s Tahu Campur,” told Endo whose favorite Soto are Soto Mustofa in Yogyakarta and Soto Kudus in Blok M, Jakarta.
Endo used to feel pressured to tell a story about new Soto every single day. But eventually this hobby of his attracted a couple of media and he got to be interviewed through the radio and national TV. Endo said, “365 Hari Nyoto will be a great story for my grandchild.”
With the cycling trend that blooms in this pandemic, Endo feels a positive energy. “I hope more people start commuting by bicycle not only as an exercise or recreational activity. It will help reduce carbon emission in great amounts if you commute with a bicycle everyday. It would be even greater if many buildings in Jakarta start to provide bathrooms for us to freshen up before work/meeting,” said Endo enthusiastically.