Wholesale Making Beautiful Things Happen - Ancient Wisdom

Greetings from Spain..

Hope you are doing well.. and that August is kind to you.

Here in Spain it is hot... very HOT.. which is great if you are on holiday and just focused on cool beer and cool swimming pools.

But distinctly not cool if you are focused on work and doing a good job.

Last week I was telling you about being cancelled, my Indonesian visa blocked and having to reschedule travel plans.

It's still not working out - as of this morning almost all foreign visa (including mine) are blocked, since I was due to fly on Tuesday I have decided to delay again, you can read it here.

But it wasn't really clear on the government website, my visa agent was saying it will be OK.. just fly.. but Bali.com said no.. lot's of Youtubers said no.. Absolutely no answer from the helplines at the Indonesian embassy in London. So I called up Ringo (our man in Indonesia) and he took a trip to the immigration office in Denpasar.

The nice people there tried very hard to find a way, but in the end suggested I rebook and reapply for a new visa.

Now I will stay in Spain until September, and then try again to fly. Was so excited to be travelling again, but now a lot of disappointed Indonesian suppliers and a bit of pain.. where my wings have been clipped:)

If you are new to this newsletter - I have been writing it every Friday, from wherever I happen to be.. for over nine years.. the first was from Thailand during Chinese New Year 2011.. You can scan a selection of old blogs here. Over 74,000 people subscribe to this newsletter, all customers and fellow giftware traders - Here I tell you the trade secrets, the gossips, the adventures and mishaps. You will meet Ringo our agent in Indonesia, Mr. Chatterjee our man in India. Coco our agent in China.. and of course Tomas (product and marketing wizard), Raul (IT wizard), Katka, Rodrigo and the whole team from the UK. Join me as I travel and work.. and feel free to email me your ideas and suggestions, over the years the readers of this blog have really shaped the direction AW has taken.

I was also telling you about the difficulties importers face these days. Sometimes it feels as if the whole world is trying to trip us up.

Shipping a container from Indonesia to Europe pre-pandemic would cost about €3500 - the last container that arrived in Slovakia cost €17,500 adding about 90% to the cost of the products.. We are doing our best to absorb as much of the increases as possible but this is a whole new level.

So now we are going to extreme lengths to use every square inch of space.. Ringo sent me pictures of the current packing system..

We have staff packing textiles inside furniture and shopfittings every little nook and cranny is stuffed. This Ringo with his container stuffing team.

However, in spite of all this craziness.. or maybe because of it - we are more determined than ever to design and make new products.. These days instead of just Tomas and I making it happen, (as I was telling you a few weeks back) we have a whole team spread across the UK, Spain and Slovakia.. working to bring you new products.

The Artisan Tea range that Toni in Spain and his team (with a little help from me) spent months making, finally shipped to the UK.. and initial feedback has been great, which is reward enough for the work put in. See details below.

And Coco in China, who is our agent and also runs the soy wax candle factory there.. has been working with the Spain team on an idea that Tomas developed.. and I think it is going to be awesome.. it's kind of top secret because there are competitors that read this newsletter and find it hard to do something different.. and just like to copy.. but I can't resist dropping hints.. imagine mixing aromatics, gemstones, magic and drama to create a whole new concept in candles.. haha you're going to love them!

This is what we do. Making beautiful things, for wonderful retailers to delight their lovely customers.. as I'm fond of saying every gift is nothing less than an act of love. And at AW we are humbled to be part of that process. And in troubled times the thing we need more of is love.. if you want to send a bit of love back our way.. you can send suggestions for products (just click reply) or of course add a review at Reviews.com

Take care - have a lovely weekend.

David