Beyond Excited
Fri Jun 10 2022 22:57:00 GMT+0800 (Malaysia Time)
Greetings from Spain.
Back to a Friday update after last week's jubilee hiccup.
The last update I was telling you about our 5th Birthday in Slovakia and my trip down from Vienna to Malaga, and boy is it hot here. (You can catch up here)
But not as hot as in Kolkata where Mr Chatterjee our man in India and his team just loaded a container in 43c heat. I sent my heartfelt thanks to the team. Mr Chaterjee and his son are very very excited..
I only decided to come to Spain on the spur of the moment, the original plan was to fly back to Kuala Lumpur with Raul (The IT wizard) from Vienna. But I just felt I wanted to see my home before taking off to Asia.
As it happened it was probably a good thing, because my house plants needed care and I wanted (of course) to catch up with my favourite AW team in Spain. And anyway Graciela (our designer) has been working hard on some product designs for India - which I wanted to see and tweek. Which we are sending to Mr Chatterjee in India..
Thank you Graciela!
From here I will go back to Istambul - a stop over to finalise deals - then on to Kuala Lumpur..
Mr Chatterjee and his son are flying from Kolkata to Kuala Lumpur, with suitcases stuffed with samples from our best Indian suppliers. For some unknown reason (despite Borris's trip to Delhi in search of closer ties with India) they are not issuing e-visa to UK nationals, so at this point I can't easily go to India.. So India in the shape of Mr Chatterjee and son is coming to me.
It is an understatement to say they are excited, myself also. Mr Chatterjee is a very old friend as well as business partner, we have been working together for almost 20 years. Of course I haven't seen him since before the pandemic. Tomas and I were in India just as the virus cases started to emerge, we escaped on one of the last international flights out on the 12th March 2020. If all goes well I will meet Mr Chatterjee on the 18th in Kuala Lumpur (after 820 days) it will be quite a reunion - he is, he assures me, bringing Black Dog Indian whiskey. Just like old times..
After KL the plan is I will go to Indonesia in search of more great products, I'm hoping to find something as successful as the Molten Glass on Wood range, or at least as good as the iconic Coconut Lamps.. Both are back in stock and with special deals this week (see below). Also the Pampas Grass or Rayung Grass with vivid exotic colours is a great look for your shop this summer.
And talking of people we have worked with for many years... Many of you will know Kerry from AW UK customer service.. She will always be part of AW, having been with us since 2007.. almost 15 years.
Kerry has been a valuable team member, and a massive source of information, there is nothing about AW that Kerry doesn't know.. I think she will miss us and we will certainly miss her.
She has decided to make a new chapter in her career, and of course we wish her all the best. If you want to pass on wishes you can email her or reply to this email.
It's not long until Father's Day.. are you prepared?
Next week I will be back in Istanbul. The week after the grand reunion with Mr Chatterjee.. if all goes to plan.
Full reports here..
Take care
David
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