David's AW News: The Sound of Something Big in Nepal

 

Greetings from Kathmandu, Nepal… Hope you guys are well and trading great!   It has been GCSE results week back in the UK, so congratulations to all those young people discovering what their next adventure might be. Good results or disappointing ones, life has a funny way of taking us somewhere completely unexpected… and sometimes those unexpected paths turn out to be the best ones. Last week I was telling you about the Independence Day games in Bali, and how much our staff enjoy making complete fools of themselves. I was writing from Kuala Lumpur excited because I had found Tokyo street with an inspiring Lucky Cat shop.  If you missed it, you can catch up here.   From there I took a Malaysia Airlines flight directly to Kathmandu. Lovely staff who actually remembered me and made a fuss. That's unexpected; you don't get that on Ryanair.. Likewise Kathmandu is certainly the kind of place where things happen unexpectedly—and rather serendipitously.

It's still the rainy season, and the city is quiet. Almost no tourists. It's nice because it's a little less hectic, and the air is fresh and clean after the rains.  I arrived a few days ago and I’m very happy to be here. It really is like coming home—a place where I have many old friends, and where people are just naturally friendly.

So.. This week, Nepal… Bicky—our Lokta paper guy—was telling me that his father, who is retired now, was once a gift trader in Thamel. It turns out he has an old friend who makes Singing bowls. So we went along to see his warehouse, just a ten-minute taxi ride away. Well… what a surprise.

I have never seen so many singing bowls in one place in my life. Thousands of them, stacked everywhere. Two levels to the warehouse.. and stock coming and going. Including raw ingots of tin and copper.  First, we met the younger brother who runs the warehouse. Then the boss arrived—the older brother. A lovely gentleman, not pushy at all, but clearly passionate about singing bowls and just about anything made from brass. It turns out they own a factory about two hours outside Kathmandu and actually make the singing bowls from scratch. I said, “Really?” Because in India, the story is that rough bowls are cast and battered into shape in two or three main production areas. The crude bowls are then loaded into sacks and sent by truck to Nepal, where artisans polish, tune and decorate them. The best bowls are said to come from Nepal—but, of course, they are more expensive. That's the narative they tell me in India. But Mr Suman (the boss) told me that every bowl in this warehouse had been made in their own factory.  “Can I see it?”   “Yes, of course.” So now we are making a plan. Production starts at 4am, he told me, so this is going to involve a painfully early start… Meanwhile, he suggested we visit his showroom in another part of the city.

What a place that turned out to be. Three floors of an old building, packed with examples of products commissioned by customers over many years—esoteric brass and metal items of every description, but mostly singing bowls. His daughter runs the showroom, and although it is well away from the tourist area, it was busy with traders popping in to collect special pieces.

And here I discovered something that completely blew my mind… Sound-therapy bowls on sticks. Imagine a precisely tuned G bowl on one end of a staff and a C bowl on the other. Strike one and the vibration is vigorous, alive and lasts for a surprisingly long time. You can move it around the body of a client, allowing the sound and vibration to travel around them. The effect is really quite magical. It has the potential to be a massive new product line at AW - we are developing it..  I also learned about Solar Bowls, Mustang Bowls and Dice Bowls—each with its own story, sound and character. And this is only one of several adventures unfolding here right now… Today I’m visiting a textile factory in the shadow of the famous Monkey Temple, where they are making hippy and gothic dresses. That sounds very AW to me. In fact, I’m beginning to develop a much bigger plan—to massively expand our Nepalese artisan ranges. This place is alive with new products, traditional skills and talented entrepreneurs who are taking Nepal’s giftware heritage to the next level. Old crafts are not simply being preserved; they are evolving into something new, relevant and exciting. That combination of heritage, creativity and a little bit of magic is really what Ancient Wisdom has always been about. If we can help these makers reach more shops across the UK and Europe, while bringing our customers genuinely different products with proper stories behind them, then I think there is a rather wonderful opportunity here. I’ll explain more about the plan next week… along with the gothic dresses, the Monkey Temple and, hopefully, what happens when I drag myself out of bed in Kathmandu in time to see singing bowls being made at 4am. Meanwhile, the AW World Tour is still rolling on, with special offers landing as we travel from one sourcing country to the next. Keep checking the website and your emails—the offers are only around for a short time, and there are some particularly good ones coming through. Thank you, as always, for being part of the journey and for supporting the products that keep these remarkable skills, workshops and family businesses alive. From the noise, colour and glorious chaos of Kathmandu… now I have to go to that factory visit. Have a wonderful weekend!