How to Make a Coconut Lamp
Fri May 22 2020 21:55:00 GMT+0800 (Malaysia Time)
Greetings from Bali.. trapped in Bali day 55
Another week on this island, time passes quickly. Most mornings Ringo picks me up around 9am, sometimes he brings nasi goreng - Egg and fried rice Bali style and super strong local coffee.
Then we head to the warehouse (you can see a short guided tour in last weeks newsletter - here) meet suppliers, organise packing and packaging. Occasionally risk a trip to see suppliers in their workshops.
On the way, we pass police road blocks and army patrols checking where people are going and enforcing the "masks to warn outside homes at all times" rule. So far they have never stopped us, we seem to have a magic pass and get waved through.
I noticed recently the road block guys also performing another function, handing out plastic bags with food parcels into anyone who needs it. The other day we went to Ubud to catch up with three different suppliers like old times. Ubud is all but closed practically a ghost town but in the home compounds and surrounding villages handicraft production continues.
We have a new product in the pipeline - a beautiful natural Coconut lamp, a bedside light perhaps.
The shade is made from a cotton string ball, the holder from a coconut tree leaf. Simple and beautiful.
I wanted to go and see the production in action so we invited ourselves along. This boss - a jolly guy - was delighted to show us his workshop, He met us at his showroom on the Tegallalang road just outside of Ubud, and then a short walk away down a small alley we see cotton ball shades drying in the sun then a big stack of coconut leafs, a special type imported from Java because of the leafs size and ability to be moulded.
This really is a family business the does the finishing, his wife makes the cotton ball shades and his son is the master of shaping the leafs.
Using a blow torch and a wine bottle the son expertly shapes the leafs.
I asked how the shades are made and he sat down to show me. Basically taking three strands of cotton and wrapping it around a small football. After the ball is deflated to get it out and pumped up again for re-use.
They are such a jolly family, all laughing and joking as they work. Clearly happy to be busy. He told us normally he has regular orders from a French business but since the virus no re-order coming. Our order is about a container load and it will keep them occupied for about two months. They were really grateful for the business and viewed it as a gift from God.
Meanwhile back at the AW Bali warehouse we are receiving finished stock from previous orders and have six people working on quality control and packing. The system in Bali is that the artisans don't expect to do packaging, cargo companies do this part of the process. We basically have our own cargo company - our warehouse, where I am writing this newsletter from right now. I was telling you how we made a photo-studio and made a nice office space. Next job is to make a nice staff room for our team to have lunch in. We already provide lunch from a local warung (small cafe/takeaway) and now they go off to a corner of the warehouse to eat.. social distancing. But soon things must relax here.. no new cases only 4 deaths, so I see no reason not to make the staff room as nice as possible. We started work on it today.
Back in UK.. things are critical.. we are actually pretty busy, but finding it really hard to quickly full-fill orders because of social distancing and supply problems. We have brought almost everyone back to work, but organising everyone is a huge headache. Please bear with us as we gradually increase production in the factory and find ways to pick and pack orders more efficiently under these conditions. It's amazing that you our customers seem to be doing such a good business, but frustrating we cannot meet the orders quickly enough. Everyone is working as hard as possible.. we are getting there..
Take care - stay safe.
More news next week.
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