AW Artisan Wholesale Giftware

Greetings from the AW warehouse in Bali Extreme weather everywhere, Spain has massive rain, China unseasonably hot, here we have hurricanes and downpours causing flash flooding - but at least in the UK the sun is shining and Spring is in the air..At least one place in the AW world has some good weather. Last week I was telling you about the lady boss who makes some of the shop fittings we stock. And news from India.. if you missed it you can catch up here . Today we went in the rain to the Bali Baby Home, the charity we support here. It's not far from the warehouse, but roads were closed or flooded and we struggled to even get there. So Spring is in the air.. Mother's Day very soon.. Then Easter , it's Spring! And if you are looking for quality artisan Dream Catchers, always good at this time of year.. then now is the time to stock up.. (see below). Trip to the (Dream Catcher) component village.. So we heard about this Kampung, a village area not far from the a...

Greetings from a hot and humid Bali. I don't know if you want to hear this but it has been almost too hot to work. I know the UK has been getting some spring-like weather and blue skies - so Spring is in the air. I'm still getting over our man Ringo wanting to retire..big news in last week's missive, if you missed you can catch up here . I spoke to Ringo the other day in his village, we miss you, I told him, and he said he was missing Ancient Wisdom also, so maybe.. Well Mother's Day is almost upon us, and focus moves to Easter .. Spring is in the air and it does feel more lively.. things are happening!! And it's St Patricks day today.. Guinness and Green Ties Day. And I'm still angry about Temu and Shein. The more I think about it the more unfair it seems. I was very sad to see that an old established wholesaler, a brilliant company run by lovely people, has been forced to close down.   And Temu is a big factor in this .   I have some updates on thi...

Greetings from Bali, Indonesia I hope you are doing well and life is treating you well. Last week I was telling you about our trip to visit "Pacman" one of our long-time artisan suppliers in Bali. We made a Youtube video about it. I'm planning a series called: Meet the Artisans . If you missed the newsletter you can catch up here . Yesterday was a sad day. The end of an Era. So only a week ago, Ringo came to see me. He sat in front of me looking incredibly nervous, I could see his hands shaking. What he told me rocked my world. Rocked all of AW . Ringo has been our Indonesian agent for almost 14 years. Not only that but a good friend and wise council. I can say hand on heart, I don't know anyone as humble, hard working, diligent and caring as Ringo. He taught me so much about the Bali Hindu philosophy, about the Tri Hita Karana which is all about balance, Three way balance between the spiritual, humans (community) and nature.   Now he is sat in front of me t...

Greetings from the AW warehouse, Ketewel, Bali It's been one of those weeks, lots of challenges and super busy. I have been spending time in the beach office, because we have a new Dropshipping website with lots of enhanced features in the pipeline. This needs lots of brain power and attention to details, the programming team are totally on it. But yesterday I escaped with Bondhan and his friend who is a professional photographer to Ubud and the villages beyond. It finally stopped raining and the rice terraces and hidden away country lanes looked pristine and beautiful.. or mission, to catch up with suppliers but also to make some content. Bodhan had a plan to interview one of our oldest suppliers in his home. Lush rice terrace in real Bali. On the way we dropped in to see a few suppliers.. and made "content" because you see the plan is I'm to be a youtuber.. I'm not sure about this.. We will put this particular content out later.. this Pacman (we call him...

Hi Guys, Greetings from a coffee shop in Bali. Thank you so much to those of you who have supported the change.org petition to ask for fair tax on Temu and the like. I was so angry when I discovered that Temu alone sent up to 1500 cargo planes to the UK each month . and gosh..many more to the rest of Europe. That's 100 TIMES the carbon footprint of sending by sea container.. and it's mostly trashy stuff - but still sales that could have been spent in YOUR gift shop . And while you pay taxes in the UK or Europe on profits and imported goods have duty added.. Temu flies its 777s through a massive loophole..exploiting the "de minimis loophole" to totally evade duty and import taxes . So... It was slow at first with only a few people signing.. but yesterday almost 1000 signatures came .. if we can keep that up it will be awesome and stand a real chance of some media attention.. and just maybe this government will do something and tax the untaxed who are exploitin...

Greetings from Bali, Indonesia. Where it is still raining everyday, but still beautiful. Yesterday I spent time at the beach office, our digital marketing team workplace. I was a little bit surprised to see a warship floating just off the coast. I sent a picture to ChatGPT and it told me it was a Russian warship equipped with hypersonic missiles. It's a strange world we live in. Wheels turning not reported in western media, but Erdogan the Turkish president was in Indonesia. Last week when Bondhan and I flew back from Java, as we came into land our captain announced there had been VIP movements and that we and 15 other planes had been put into a holding pattern and for more than an hour we circled on high, coming into land so late I missed my appointment at the immigration office in Denpasar. (that's another story). Presidents and warships in Bali.. big wheels turning. Last week I was telling you about our trip to the mystical forests of the Genitri trees - where the natu...