Feeling the Heat & Re-Inventing stuff

Greetings from Bali…

Hope you guys are doing well!

Last week I was telling you about my Communist Lunch in Slovakia and my long-way-round-trip from there to here. If you missed it you can catch up here.

With the World Cup now behind us, the family holiday season well underway and our Happy Holi-Daze promotion (see below) in full swing, there is a slightly different feeling in the air. 

Here in Bali, I have been feeling rather stretched in two directions. On one side, I have been working with Bondhan on several new product ranges—fresh ideas for our molten glass-on-wood collection, some interesting new art products and plenty of other things bubbling away in the pipeline.

Despite distractions, I'm determined to land some beautiful new products. Regular readers will know this is the part of the job I absolutely love!  Looking at materials, visiting workshops and asking: *What else could we make? What could we re-invent? What might our customers love?

Then Raul arrived from Kuala Lumpur. Raul is our chief IT guy and leads the development team behind our websites and back-end systems. His arrival sent the other side of my week into overdrive. 

We are working on a major revamp of our purchasing system, and apparently, I am needed.

Raul with the developer team in our AW-Advantage office.. I'm super impressed by these young guys - they really get it.. totally understand AW and all it's complexity and can build (super charged by AI of course) systems that are flat out brilliant.  

Meet Sefti - our new office manager.. she looks after the team and makes sure they have everything they need. She is very organised and gradually learning the ropes and all about AW.. "My name is Sefti," she said as we met, "as in Safety First." I like a good sense of humour :)

Well I have some fairly radical ideas about how we can take it to the next level.. —smoothing the flow from the first product idea and purchase order here in Bali, right through to that product appearing on your website, arriving in our warehouses and eventually reaching your store. I'm confident Raul, Sefti and the Team will get us there. 

Re-inventing

So, part of my brain has been thinking about re-inventing molten glass with some fresh ideas… While the other part has been buried in data, stock flow and re-inventing purchasing systems. Very different worlds, but both trying to achieve the same thing: more original products, better availability and an easier way for you to discover and sell them.

Feeling the Heat.

As part of our product work, Bondhan and I toured several of our molten glass suppliers. We work with four or five different workshops, each with its own techniques and character. Watching the glassmakers at work is always impressive. The glass must be heated to an extraordinary temperature before it can be shaped by hand and carefully formed over the natural wood. No two pieces settle in quite the same way—which is exactly what makes them special.

Here me with the boss of one of our suppliers. He is a colourful local business character—full of ideas very hands-on, and can-do. In the pandemic we were their only customer and kept the business afloat, so he and his family always make us super welcome when we visit. But behind the beauty, the industry is facing serious problems.

He told me the real cost of the gas needed to run their furnaces has effectively tripled. It is not simply a matter of the official gas price. Sometimes gas is in short supply. Understandably, households and food production come first, leaving small industrial workshops further down the queue. When this happens, traders with gas available can push prices much higher unofficially. A glass workshop cannot simply turn the furnace on for an hour and then switch it off again—it needs a steady, dependable supply.

Indonesia actually imports most of the LPG it uses, leaving businesses exposed to international energy prices, shipping disruption and currency movements. For a glassblower, gas is already one of the biggest production costs. The combination of higher prices and unreliable supply has been a major blow. 

At one workshop we visited the furnaces were cold and the factory sadly abandoned. Production had stopped completely and the workshop had closed down. It was sad to see because the furnace is normally the beating heart of a glass workshop—hot, noisy and full of activity. Once the fire goes out, everything stops. 

Of course, prices have had to rise. We understand that. Handmade products cannot be separated from the real cost of making them, and nobody can expect an artisan to continue producing at a loss. We are doing our best to support these workshops, keep orders moving and develop products that remain both beautiful and commercially viable for our customers.

Sometimes supporting artisan production means more than simply placing an order. It means listening when things become difficult, accepting that costs have changed and working together to find a way forward.

Next Stop… West Java

Next week, Bondhan and I are planning a sourcing trip to West Java. One of our Bali suppliers, who comes from the region, told us about a gemstone mining town in an unexplored area. I have a feeling it could be interesting.  West Java is also home to a huge variety of traditional crafts, materials and small manufacturing communities—so we will see what we might find.. A leap into the unknown.. But that is usually where the best discoveries are made. So next week I may be writing from somewhere on the road, hopefully with a notebook full of ideas, a phone full of photographs and perhaps a few unexpected stories.

Two Worlds

This week has reminded me that Ancient Wisdom has always lived in two worlds. There is the creative world of artisans, workshops, materials and ideas… And there is the practical world of systems, websites, warehouses and getting everything where it needs to be. One cannot work without the other.

The cleverest purchasing system in the world is no use without beautiful products made by talented people. And a wonderful handmade product cannot support an artisan—or help your business—unless we can bring it to market reliably.  Somewhere between the furnace and the computer screen, we have to make the whole thing work.

So that is what we are trying to do here in Bali right now.

Meanwhile, I hope our Happy Holi-Daze Offers are adding a little extra sunshine to your summer sales. There is still plenty happening, so keep an eye on the website as the holiday deals continue.

Thank you, as always, for being part of the journey—and for helping us keep these workshops, skills and small artisan businesses alive.

Have a wonderful weekend.