AW Artisan Wholesale Giftware

Greetings from Sheffield - snowy Sheffield This week has been mad, amazing, inspirational and a little stressful.   Valentines Day is almost upon us.. the SOL is in full swing. Last week I was telling you about my arrival here, the crashing racking crisis in Spain and all the new stuff coming.. if you missed it you can catch up here . I'm staying in the Kenwood Hotel in Sheffield, there is a beautiful lake there and I went for a walk and thought about how we humans have used love and romance to get us through the cold of the winter months.. Normally I take a car from our car pool, or hire one while I'm here.. but for some reason I just thought I'd manage with a combo of Uber and Friends just for the human connection.. and yes learn so much. .every taxi driver has a life story to tell..   and got to spend more time with my good friend Katka who is a director at AW.. who kindly picked me up every morning. Thank you!! This morning.. A fresh beautiful Sheffield morni...

  Greetings from Sheffield, United Kingdom. I’m back at the heart of Ancient Wisdom. Coco returned to China on Tuesday. She had a little mishap… 12 hours delayed in Istanbul. But she wasn’t stressed at all; she took it philosophically… and even worked from the waiting lounge. As for me, yesterday I took an EasyJet flight from Malaga: from sapphire-blue skies and sun to the misty skies of Manchester. I wasn’t stressed either — it is what it is. My Uber driver then drove across the Pennines to Sheffield through thick fog. What a contrast. Nevertheless, it feels good to be home. There’s something deeply rooted in Sheffield, where it all began. From this… …to this… The AW Artisan Warehouses A lot is happening at AW right now. Before leaving Spain, I spent time with Toni, who is still deep in the midst of relocating the Spanish warehouse. And when I say “in the midst of relocating,” I mean the kind of situation where everything seems to go wrong at the same time. One drama afte...

  Greetings from Spain, As I write these lines… it’s raining — real Spanish rain — the kind that makes coffee taste even better. Yesterday, however, the sun was shining and we found ourselves at the Mijas town hall for a small administrative task. I must say… what a magnificent building. Calm, proud, elegant. It reminded me how much civic pride still matters here. I left quietly inspired — and grateful to be part of something that has grown with the same care and attention. Mijas Pueblo  is perched high on the mountainside, overlooking the Costa del Sol. I’m sure many of you have already passed through, but we were there early in the morning, just after sunrise and before the tourists arrived. The only people around were the gardeners and municipal staff — which only reinforced that sense of civic pride. Coco sorting paperwork at the town hall Spain Warehouse Update In just one week, an incredible amount has happened… (not without a few twists and turns). The offices are takin...

Greetings from Sunny Spain Happy New Year! Hope that Storm Goretti is not causing you too much disruption. This is my first official Friday newsletter of 2026. This time of year is all about making plans.. looking forward and getting in a positive frame of mind. Yes 2026 will be amazing.. we are already off to a great start with a swathe of new products landing already and more to come. It's all happening this year..  In Spain, Toni and his team are in the midst of moving our warehouse.. Here's Toni pretending not to be stressed.. The racking is being assembled and repositioned today.. and some stock already being moved.. So a big welcome to 2026 at AW. A new year always feels a little bit like  a fresh notebook. Clean pages. Big possibilities. And thinking Yeah!, “This could be a good one.” At Ancient Wisdom, we’re choosing to believe exactly that. We have made a bold plan for 2026.. hope you are coming for the ride!! This year already starts with some li...

Greetings again from the heart of Ancient Wisdom, Recently, we have looked back at what sold best — the products customers already knew and loved. Today feels a little different. Because this is about what we chose to create. In 2025, we introduced over one hundred new product families — more than two every single week. Some were small evolutions, others entirely new directions. All of them took thought, testing, refining, redesigning, re-thinking… and more than a few late conversations asking, “Is this really good enough yet?” Not everything launched last year will become a bestseller. That’s never been the point. New products are where curiosity lives. Where future trends quietly begin. Where you place small, thoughtful bets on what customers might be ready for next — even if they don’t quite know it yet. Below, I want to share our Top 10 best-selling NEW product launches of 2025 . These are the ideas that didn’t just arrive — they found their feet. And they give us s...

Greetings from Spain, I just escaped from the UK, (hoping to avoid the snow) back to my home in Spain and landed (or actually didn't) in the midst of the biggest storm in years. As we came into land conditions were so bad the flight was diverted to Madrid.. and I only made it back to Malaga and home some 9 hours later. Got there in the end.. and that all seems like a metaphor for 2025 . A bit of a rough ride but got there in the end. As the year winds down and we are mulling over plans in that strange space between Christmas and back to work..   It feels like the right moment to pause, take stock, and look both ways — back at what we’ve shared this year, and forward to what’s coming next. First, thank you. Thank you for trading with us, growing with us, and sticking with us through a year that — once again — proved that “normal” is a very flexible concept. A quick look back This year reminded us of a few important truths: People still love real products , with stori...