Hi ,
Greetings from Bali, Indonesia.
Last week I was telling you about the surprising truth about Indonesian bosses of the companies we deal with, you can catch up with it here. Valentine's Valentine trade and Valentine's day were suitably heart warming. Here in Bali it's all been a bit of mash-up with the Chinese year of the Dog celebrations which practically overlap. So Happy New Year! Hope it is paw..sperous :)
Now..no time to rest.. the season of love focus changes to the Big One.. the Mother's Day.. heck.. OMG.. don't panic.. it's less than three weeks to get organised.
So been in Ubud, Bali just over a week and all sorts of creative things are happening almost of their own accord. You only have to mention in passing some idea for a new product, or suggest a modification to an existing one and days later artisans are calling by the hotel with samples for approval, it's as though the act of creation and the flow of design is part of the heartbeat of Ubud and it's surrounds. For me it's giftware heaven, the only drawback is the folk love to be creative but are not keen on been industrious, it's hard to buy in big enough volume, and often the best we can do is just buy all the production we can get over a given period. Always the ceremonies, the weddings, the tropical rain, the magic, the special days, the odd volcanic eruption.. in Bali lots of things take priority over production. It's why you will see we are often out of stock of many more handicraft items than we would like.
The thing with the towns and villages around here is that almost every place is a handicraft workshop. Lots of villages or stretches of a road seem to specialise in one type of craft. Perhaps the most famous area is Celuk it's an absolute warren that covers quite a large area of housing artisan silversmiths. The main roads house some impressive silver design studios with swish showrooms (and prices) but go knocking on doors in the back streets and you will find hundreds of family silver crafting enterprises. Bali silver is shipped all over the world, partly because of the high level of craftsmanship but also because of the reputation for honesty of its traders. Silver (be warned) from other parts of Asia is often not really silver even if it has the 925 stamp. We went to visit one of our oldest suppliers in Bali; Ketut and his family. They are one of the original designers and producers of the famous Angel Calling Bells and Winged Angel Coloured Bells. It was great to catch up with Ketut and see the latest designs..
Just thinking.. lovely Mother's Day gifts.. especially for those that have angels for Mum's.
There is definitely magic in the air and a possible touch of political skulduggery. Last time I was here in early December last year, Ubud was a ghost town with most tourists keeping clear because of the imminent eruption of the Volcano. Everywhere then were posters asking you to pray for Mount Agung.. Apparently, it worked because the local government has reduced the threat level to 4 and the tourist have come back. Ubud was buzzing almost back to normal. But.. my contacts on the ground tell me a different story, Mount Agung continues to grumble, social media shows huge plumes of ash spilling forth, only three days ago. Is the government giving in to commercial pressure? It's like in the movie Jaws.. where the greedy town mayor bends the truth.. to save local businesses.
Anyway our man in Indonesia, Ringo seems totally unfazed, whatever will happen will happen.. It's just mother nature and we are in her hands anyway. When I asked him if he worries about it, he smiled and said why? Whatever will be will be.
Meanwhile back in the UK.. more containers arriving. More good stuff for Mother's Day. One shouldn't brag, it's not seemly.. but I have to say at AW we have so much good stuff for Mother's Day I can hardly believe it myself. Check out the deals below.
Next week .. roll of drums, some frantic Bollywood dancing, a whiff of spices, and lots of honking taxis... it's off to INDIA.. yay! I'll be catching up with lots of old friends and working up some new designs from the sub-continent, hope you are coming along for the ride... that is of course unless the moody and mysterious Mount Agung decides to throw up a lava storm and close the airport.. anyway that would be another story.
See you next week.
Take care, or as they say here Hati Hati!
David
