Wholesale Weird and Wonderful - Ancient Wisdom - Giftware and Aromatherapy Supplier

Greetings from Weird Ubud

Last week I was telling you about our trip to the far north of Bali, to the second city of Bali: Singaraja - The lion kingdom. We tracked down a clove oil distiller deep in the forest. If you missed it you can read about it here.

It's been an extremely busy week since then - trying to squeeze in far too many deals before I have to return to Europe - which is generally a mistake. It's much better to focus and make one or two really good product ranges than ten average ones. So many of the projects I'm thinking of hanging over until when I return.. Although our man Ringo and his able assistant Bondhan can keep a lot of things gradually progressing in the right directions..

Whilst dashing from supplier to supplier.. I noticed something about Ubud, it's changing.. not in a bad way..

It's changing in many ways, its getting bigger, it's getting busier, it's buzzing.. but most of all it's gone weird.. very weird in some places. So many shops like Merlin's Magic shop and restaurant, so many crystal shops, healing chakra massage places, vegan trance studios, mystic tattoo studios everywhere, Yoga barn has a menu of meditation zones for every outcome. Ubud has always been Indonesia's if not all of Asia's most creative zones, helped and enabled by an army of skilled artisans. It's always been a bit alternative - but now every other business has just gone weird. Wonderfully weird. And the weird and wonderful people are being mystically drawn to Ubud..

Last week I was telling you about the rustic clove oil production plant we found in the forest.. well on the return journey after a tip off we took a detour to another area and found a village with very organised and modern production. Family run businesses who were delighted to show us everything and sell us samples for testing. They also promised to help with how to source other oils in Indonesia directly.. this is a major breakthrough - I'm really pleased about this because this is a secretive and almost impossible world to break into.

This week we have been discovering the wonderful world of the Payung - or Balanese umbrella. They come in every size - used in temple decorations and sun shades alike.. The information we have is that they are selling really well in Europe as exotic decor.. I have a collection in my house in Spain.. and it's true you can find them in many gift shops in Spain..

We found the village where they make export quality, the ones used in homes and temples here are low quality and wouldn't meet export requirements. But the same processes are used in manufacturing so out of interest we also went to the village where payungs are made for local use, this village is along the coast from our warehouse and inland a little. A huge industry of family businesses working together..

A complicated moving bamboo frame is made first, a pole made from treated dorian wood, a base made from albacia wood and a cover from cotton or canvas.. When it is finished different artisans attach decorations, tassels and shapes to make the finished article. It's a lot of work. But I think they are wonderful.

Well it's that Friday again.. Black Friday.. and last chance to grab a deal - check out some of the deals below..

It's also just one month until Christmas Day.. and so I must be back for Christmas..

Hope you have a lovely weekend

David