AW Artisan Wholesale Giftware

Missing in Shanghai Greetings from Yiwu, China Yes, I'm finally back in China after more than four years. It's a bit strange, the same but very different. I took the China Eastern night flight, from Denpasar to Shanghai. A very sparse flight, a selection of sad Russian refugees (moving to the next place they can), some wealthy Chinese and me. In Shanghai the airport was almost empty. Very strange, only a few international flights arriving. Coco (my wife and AW China agent) needed to be in Shanghai to apply for her Schengen visa so we arranged to meet at the hotel. Last week I was in Bali, and we had the local priest come to performed a blessings ceremony for the latest AW start-up. Something strange happened.. if you missed it you can catch up ...

Something Strange Happened Greetings from Bali Hope you had a wonderful Easter, now onwards into the spring.. Last week I was telling you about selecting the auspicious date for a ceremony  to launch our start-up in Bali..The date was carefully selected as the 10th of April. If you missed the reasons why you can catch up here . I'm delighted with our new office, the objective to create the best possible work place, a dream location, swimming pool, air-conditioned,surf view.. who wouldn't want to work here? Well it seems like no-one wants to work here.. Debbie our HR has been interviewing six or seven people a day, we have hundreds of applications, the best ones are invi...

Bali Startup Ceremony   Greetings from Bali A lot has happened in the weeks we were in Nepal & India.. I'm excited to see our new office here. We call it the "Beach Office" to differentiate from the "Warehouse Office". Last week I was telling you about our last days in India. Our first days in India we found ourselves in an goddamn awful hotel, the last days in India's finest: the Raj West End in Bangalore, rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous. If you missed it you can catch up  here. Whilst travelling from place to place, we have been receiving daily updates from Ringo and Bondan (our guys in Bali) as to the renovations progress.. our plan is to make the most beaut...

463 Reasons   Greetings Bangalore, India This is our final day of the grand Nepal / India tour.. it's been hard work, an emotional roller coaster, epic and I hope successful.   How to measure success on a sourcing trip? Well, we have sourced and ordered 463 new products, added six new approved suppliers, ordered about 20 containers of goods, and probably (with your support) created work for several thousand Indian artisans. The true measure of success will be how happy we can make you and your customers, if your customers love any of those 463 products then you can grow your business, reorder again and again and everyone benefits.....

The Nice Guys Greetings from Goa, India Last week I was telling you about the Good and Bad in India - and our trip to the city of Panipat. If you missed it you can catch up here . After Panipat we spent a few days in the heart of Old Delhi diving down the many back lanes and wire strune alleyways that harbour some of the oldest export businesses in India.  The area around the old Jama Masjid Mosque, is still a buzzing marketplace of traders dealing in all kinds of Indian handicrafts. Many years ago, arriving early in the morning directly from the airport, I was almost mugged there and only saved by the timely arrival to work of our supplier. So happy memories.  ...

Good and Bad in India   Greetings from Greater Noida, India The AW buying team (Tomas, Bryant, Chatterjee, Drishanta, and me)  are travelling in India - seeking out a swath of amazing new products for you. Right now we are attending the huge Spring trade show at the exhibition center in Greater Noida.. To be honest, I'm not always impressed by the tradeshows, preferring to seek out the independent family businesses directly, but this year is different.. details below. Last week I was telling you about our last days in Kathmandu - the journey to Delhi and then onwards to Panipat - a major textile area in North India. If you missed it you can read ti here. Since then we have spent a few days in the heart of Old Delhi connecting with our regular suppliers and some new ones, then onward to the trade show. Panipat was interesting, we stayed ...