Quentin, our French guy in Spain, said something very profound.. he said he really appreciated the fact that he had "A Team Leader" and not "A Boss" and that when mistakes happen it's not one persons fault, it is a collective issue and the team leader seeks to improve systems to make it not happen again. To see a team enjoying working together - enjoying spending time together - is like watching the beautiful game. 

A Team Leader is part of the process and involved and takes collective blame and collectively enjoys the success. A Boss distributes blame, lords it, dispenses punishment & favours, claims personal credit for successes. 

And the nasty set back that gave birth to AW Artisan.. well we used to have a partnership agreement and a 50% ownership of a company in Spain to distribute AW products here. Back in 2016, we began to discover "The Boss" of this company was faking the accounts, not paying taxes, and had even tried to fake 100% ownership. I should have known earlier due to the playboy lifestyle of "The Boss".. but you live and learn. When I refused to sign off fake accounts it all blew up and the partnership relationship broke down, the boss stopped paying for stock and services from AW and  refused to communicate at all. So quite a large investment blocked plus a large potential bad debt, so a hefty setback for AW. 

And today they still sadly pretend to customers they are part of AW.. even using pictures and product codes that reflect ours.  It's all very sad and desperate. Yes of course we are taking action but in Spain the court system is painfully slow.. and will grind on for years.. Anyway I don't much get involved just leave that to the lawyers, while enjoying getting on with developing and working with the team at AW Artisan in Spain. 

They really are a joy to work with, I call them "MFT '' it's an in-joke but whenever I mention this name there are gales of laughter.. can you work it out?

Meanwhile in the UK the new workspace for the team there is really taking shape.. The chill-out zone, the collaborative space, a table tennis table, a full kitchen and now we are adding in a "The Little Balianese workshop" where you can move to when you need to reset your thoughts.

It's going to be super cool, I'm just sorry I missed it happening.  

And finally I was telling you about a new logo for AW.. we commissioned a professional logo designer, who took note of the life story of AW, made a list of our values, and then listened patiently to Tomas and my impossible range of elements and ideas we wanted to incorporate.. actually an impossible task..

So it's still work in progress but here is a sneak preview.. 

Starting with the idea of fairly trading across the earth.. the circle of harmony that is trading with Artisans, dealing with Family retailers and trying to do it sustainably whilst treating the Earth with respect..

So Harmony & Earth.. at the core of AW.