Wholesale Heavy Rock & Tea in Java - Ancient Wisdom - Giftware and Aromatherapy Supplier

Greetings from Ubud, Bali

Hope you are well and surviving the sandstorms, prestalance and wars.

It's all levels of stress at once it seems.. In Spain, apart from being sandblasted, the nation's drivers are on strike, so nothing is getting delivered.

Here in Indonesia everything is peaceful and calm by comparison.. although we have been super busy developing the next ranges of products - working day and night with our artisan suppliers to bring you something new.

Last week I was telling you about our road trip to Java.. and our exploration of three artisan villages discovered by our man Bondan. I was telling you about the Seagrass Village.. if you missed it you can catch up here. If you are interested, I'll tell you about the Teak Village.. if not skip ahead to the business stuff below.

We spent a couple of days in the Seagrass Village (last week's news), and could have spent much longer. But time is short so we had to move on - on our road trip across Java.

There is a brand new motorway to the city of Solo in central Java. Recent years have seen huge infrastructure projects completed across Indonesia, much to the pride and joy of the population. For Ringo it was his first time on a proper motorway, and he was delighted and impressed. After spending the night in Solo, we headed up into the Teak forest area of central Java. Now driving on small country roads winding up to the higher ground.

Teak wood is strictly controlled by the government, and as far as I'm aware the artisan producers are all compliant. Trees can only be cut with approval and must be over a certain girth. A system to protect the teak supply and ensure that forests are maintained was developed with the EU a few years back it's called the SVLK.. importers like AW have to hold a FLEGT (Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade) license, and we are obliged to ensure all our wood imports meet the standards. Ringo is always on the job chasing up papers and getting the correct stamps and paperwork to make sure our products meet the standards.

I read that over a million people work in Java producing teak furniture for the world, not all the teak is grown on Java, some comes from forests on other islands - but the main artisan area is in central Java. Bondan had discovered one particular village that specialised in giftware and furniture.. As we arrived close to the town, the side of the road was made up of small showrooms practically nestling in the edge of the forest.

Small businesses each with a particular speciality with people actually living and working right inside the forest. Later we went to the town - a neat organised place, nice houses and a feeling of prosperity. We met earnest, thoughtful business people very hands on and creative, working with all types of teakwood. The roots, branches, heart of the tree all for different purposes. Wow, I was very impressed.. a wide range of items from fine high-end furniture - to funky coffee shop designs and arty giftware items.

We made a video..

So I think we found a couple of businesses that we will work with, and Bondan will return in the next few weeks to finalise a couple of container loads of orders.

After the teak village we went to visit the hometown of Bondan, where we met his Mother and Father.. his father a musician (like Bondan) and a very cool guy. In the back of his house they had built a small recording studio where local aspiring rock stars can come and practice. All over Java, people love 1970's Rock.. I was surprised at the number of radio stations playing soft rock (even English language stations here), every hotel has a resident band, even at the motorway service station a band played for tips. The immensely popular president of Indonesia known as Jokowi (his nickname) is an avowed heavy metal fan. And in Indonesia there is a huge rock band culture. I don't know what your perception of a Muslim country is but I bet you didn't expect that ..

This was another idyllic peaceful village high up on the side of a mountain with rice terrace views below and tea plantation views above.

We went to visit the tea plantation, where locals go to a picnic area with dramatic views. In a small workers village one or two gift shops sold the local produce including the tea. A nice lady gave us endless cups of tea to try.. the local tea is supposed to improve your eyesight.. it was nice - looked a lot like "gunpowder tea" and even without sugar it had a sweet floral taste. However, we do have some Artisan teas from Spain...

Next week more news from Indonesia.

Don't panic.. but only 10 days to Mother's Day.

If you still need to stock up we have just the things you need.

Take care

David