David's AW News: 29 Years - A Crazy Thank You!!!

Greetings from Bali, Indonesia.

Last week I was explaining why we bought a Buddha oven. If you missed it you can catch up here.

Malaga survives!

It's raining, it's pouring .. massive storms in Spain. Our warehouse is in the epicentre.. lots of damage in Malaga as an unbelievable amount of rain falls.

Toni and the team were ordered to take the day off on Wednesday. On Thursday they came to work to discover part of the roof blown off, water flooding the floor and so we have suffered some water damage.  But they guys got to work cleaning up and sorting out damages, they were picking orders by 10am and like the rest of Malaga picking themselves up and getting on with it. 

Despite the sighting of a massive tornado off the coast of Marbella and huge winds, my house on the coast survived unscathed, and on Thursday morning at 4am I'm calling all my friends there to make sure they are ok.. it seemed ok but with some lucky escapes. Thank God.

Then yesterday - after work back to my villa in the evening. It seemed like a nice evening for a walk to find dinner. Then distant rumbling thunder, a flurry of hailstones then suddenly big fat raindrops are falling. Within minutes the sky is black and then it rains in an absolute deluge. There is sheet lightning,  and then the loudest thunder clap I can ever remember, walls shake and my eardrums hurt.  

This morning I noticed that pot plants with palms have been blown flat and my eardrums still feel tender.  A volcano on a neighbouring island is erupting, displacing thousands of people and many flights have been cancelled. So the world is like this. These days.

But life goes on and even though my time here is short, I have been catching up with the marketing teams. Reinventing SEO and pay per click because AI is a massive upheaval in this field. 

I also want to finish a couple of products (that I know are trending) that we really should have. It's important to stay ahead, no?

Future plans.

Our man here, Bondhan, has been telling me about a small city in Java. Apparently, there are many family businesses making textile products for export. He visited last month and already made some interesting contacts, I'm keen to develop this area of business within AW. We are already doing quite well with yoga pants, and watch this space for very cool t-shirts. Coming soon.

We are already planning a trip next year.

It was 29 years ago!

Important News - Thank You!

Well, tomorrow actually.. when I started Ancient Wisdom and sold my first bottle of lavender oil on a street market in Sheffield town centre.

There is quite a back story, and so much has happened over the years. But the first day (16th November 1995) was a disaster and I almost gave up...

It was a wet cold Thursday morning a long time before Google and Facebook, and as I laid out my market stall on a Sheffield street I was more than apprehensive about what people would think. But I was ready by eight, my humble offering laid out on that simple stall.. and stomping from foot to foot I awaited my first customer.

A few months earlier, I'd been reading a book called "Ancient Wisdom" - now out of print. The book highlighted many things that seem out of place in history - the pyramids, Stonehenge etc. At the same time I'd been researching aromatherapy. It struck me that essential oils had been used for thousands of years and ancient people must have known more about them - (healing and enchanting) than perhaps we did. So I put the two together and devised the brand of "Ancient Wisdom" slowly (very slowly, no Internet remember) I found supplies of oils. I found a potter down in Stoke who made me my own design of oil burner, and invested in a pallet load of candles.

The truth was I was stone broke, every penny and more I put into my unusual retail business. In those days no-one had any idea what aromatherapy was, oil burners were a new fangled thing and this was Yorkshire! The first person to approach was a well built lady of colour with a broad Yorkshire accent. Picking up a bottle of Lavender oil she asked me bruskly "what's it good for lad?" Oh I said recalling my Julia Lawless quotes.. "it's good for relaxing, will help you sleep and if you burn yourself it's an amazing healing oil".

Well, I can remember it clear as day.. she looked at me, took me in with big brown eyes, and in a low voice said; "You are completely bloody bonkers". And wandered off to the fruit and veg.

You can imagine how I felt. That first day I sold one lavender oil and gave some tea tree away to a spotty teenage girl. I went home and almost packed it in...

If you have time you can find out what happened next and catch up on the rest of the colourful journey that AW has taken here. 

Rodrigo and the team in our HQ in the UK around this time of year get quite excited; I just wanted to  say thank you for the last 29 years, without your support, AW wouldn't have come this far. So thank you!

So Tomas is in the UK now and has been working hard.. he pulled off a deal to help you..

SO.. we have a new deal with our BNPL partners especially for you our customers.. It's called Purchase Hub. from Pastpay.

It's to help our customers THINK BIG.. and take advantage of opportunities when they come along.. (like above). Up to £16,000 credit could be available to you.

Now you can login and see just how much credit you have and the system helps you to plan carefully your expansion plans.

Literally you can stock up now and pay in 2026. How good is that?  

Little update from Bali.

Yesterday Ringo and his team celebrated dispatching another Container. With at least two more to dispatch this month.. so lots of stock early next year.

Coco despatched two containers this week.. with another 3 or 4 to go.. 

We have lots of lovely products in the pipeline..lots of retail opportunities.. these days with AI changing the retail landscape I believe there are more opportunities opening up all the time.. 

So meanwhile in AW Artisan Europe.  new stock arrives every day... and we are very excited about our new products from Nepal! 

Hope life and business are going well for you..

Not long until Christmas.. 

Take care

David