David's AW News: 12 Days in China

Greetings from Yiwu, China

Hope you survived Storm Dave, enjoyed the Heat Wave and are ready for whatever weather comes next. Here in China we are also suffering/enjoying dramatic temperature changes—one day 15°C, today 32°C. But cracking on with work regardless.  

Last week I was telling you about my journey here with an unexpected detour in Guangzhou.. our quick trip to Coco's hometown.. if you missed it you can catch up here..

Now we are back in Yiwu..And the thing about Yiwu.. There’s a certain energy here that’s hard to explain unless you’ve been here. Not chaos exactly… more like momentum. Everything always moving, everything possible. No time wasted, competent people - who get things done without fuss. 

Bryant and Sandra arrived via Hong Kong a few days ago — It's Bryant’s first time here — and you can see it in his eyes… that mix of curiosity, excitement, and “blimey, this place is big”. And it is. Properly big. But also full of opportunity if you know where to look. We’ve come with a big plan. Ambitious. Slightly mad if I’m honest. And just 12 days to pull it together.

Bryant and Sandra.. the first day.. and Bryant outside the main market entrance..  

But… I think we’ve got the right team here to do it.

Coco — absolutely unstoppable. The kind of “can do” attitude you just can’t teach. Between her contacts and the relationships we’ve built over the years, doors just open.

Sandra — design maestro — sketching, refining, reworking… often still at it well past midnight. You can literally see ideas becoming products in real time.

Bryant — straight into it. Packaging, positioning, thinking commercially all the time. Loads of ideas, and not afraid to push things.

And me… somewhere in the middle of it all, trying to keep up.

Every day has been a bit of a whirl.

One minute we’re sat in a tiny office surrounded by packaging samples…

next minute we’re in a showroom full of teapots…

then across town with our tarot card guys…

then back with our favourite gemstone jewellery lady (still as sharp as ever)…

And then our packaging guy — honestly, next level.

Design something in the morning… and by the next day, there it is in your hand. Real. Physical. Done.

That speed… that responsiveness… it changes how you think about product development. You stop overthinking. You start doing. And that’s something I keep noticing here…

Perfection isn’t always the goal. But they just get things done. 

The gemstone market area… not actually in the organised market - it's a maze of streets that pre-date the modern market. It is a place I love and as mesmerising as ever.

Exotic shops, folk from all parts of China, gemstone community built around a love of stones.. But what I like is the people behind it. The familiarity. The trust built over years. Conversations that pick up where they left off last time. It’s not just buying and selling. It’s relationships. Really I could spend the whole time very happy in these streets creating and doing deals.. 

And then today — something a bit different. We’re off to visit the glass and metal décor factory that makes our Bottom Up shot glasses (you might know them already — if not, you will soon… Father’s Day written all over them). I always enjoy these visits. You see the process. The skill. The little details you’d never think about sitting back in the UK.

What strikes me most, halfway through this trip… Is how much this all depends on people.

Not systems. Not strategies. Not spreadsheets. but people.

The supplier who says “yes, we can try that” instead of “no”.

The designer who keeps going when everyone else would stop.

The team that just gets on with it, no fuss.

We’re thousands of miles from Sheffield… but in moments like this, it feels very connected. Every day, we upload all the pictures to a WhatsApp group for the AW teams from Sheffield, Spain and Slovakia. They all give feedback, ideas and encouragement. We are missing Tomas here (our old China hand).. but he is just too busy in the UK right now.. but he is watching us closely

Same goal. Same push. Same belief that we can make something better.

Let’s see where we get to by the end of the 12 days… 

More news soon

Take care

David