June 25th, 2007 indonesiaexport
We’ve just added over one hundred new models of lampshade to the category… bringing us to 458 lampshade models in all.
These additions are of the mostly wrought iron and leather type — compared to the original line, however, we’re looking at a step up in terms of detailing and many more vivid colors, patterns & motifs.
See the additions at:
http://www.indonesiaexport.com/frame.php?category=Lampshades
(Note: these latest models all start with ‘SWL’ at the beginning of the product code).
Enjoy,
Sean
Posted in New Products | Comments Off
June 25th, 2007 indonesiaexport
Wednesday this week (June 27th, 2007) is the Balinese Galungan celebration.
It’s not a red day (as national holidays are marked red in the Indonesian calendar system) but we will be closed along with most every other company in Bali for one of the more important holidays of the year.
Here’s a little background information on the holiday (mostly copied from Wikipedia).
The Balinese calendar (or Pakuwon) is a cycle of 210 days and has absolutely nothing in common with the international or Gregorian calendar.
The day celebrates the victory of “Dharma” (virtue) upon “Adharma” (evil) — the word Galungan means, “when the Dharma is winning”.
Galungan marks the beginning of the most important recurring religious ceremony that is celebrated by all Balinese.
During the Galungan period the deified ancestors of the family descend to their former homes. They must be suitably entertained and welcomed, and prayers and offerings must be made for them.
Those families who have ancestors that have not yet been cremated, but are still buried in the village cemetery, must make offerings at the graves.
Although Galungan falls on a Wednesday, most Balinese will begin their Galungan ‘holiday’ on Tuesday — this is when the family begins to prepare offerings and food for the next day.
Leading up to Galungan, everyone has a job to do.
One of the odd — you could say, ‘funny’ — things about Bali is that there are many, many holidays & ceremonies but in our experience, everyone works much harder for a ceremony than they would in an office or on a construction site for that matter.
And, of all the Balinese holidays, Galungan is probably the busiest and the most expensive in terms of offerings, feast & decorations.
There is the purchase of fruit for offerings; a pig for slaughter; pastries, snacks and so on and many flowers and coconut fiber for making ‘banten’ — a standard woven offering. I’ll often walk out of the office to find a small woven basket of flowers and perfume ‘banten’ on my car or under my foot (they’re easy to miss and tread on). The banten for Galungan are bigger, more complicated. The making of banten, by the way, does require skill — Arie’s mum has been practicing for years and only recently felt accomplished enough to make them properly.
Traditionally, the men of the family get together to buy a pig and then kill it.
Around this time, you often see small flatbed trucks wizzing around with rattan baskets in the back — a pig in each basket.
With the pig sorted, the men will get up around 4 or 5 in the morning to slaughter the pig — the meat is diced, ground and made into sate (kebabs) and the guys also make lawar – that’s a dish I’ve always found kind of gross — it’s basically mixed vegetables sometimes with raw pig’s blood and pork. I’ve also heard of white lawar which has no blood. The only time I got close to trying it, it was a crazy hot concoction by one of our friends (Arie was crying).
Once that’s done, the guys usually move on to making the penjor — curvy, bamboo poles heavily decorated and placed outside the homes, temples and the sides of the streets.
On Wednesday, the day of Galungan, one will find that most Balinese will try to return to their own ancestral home at some stage during the day, even if they work in another part of the island. This is a very special day for families, where offerings are made to God and to the family ancestors who have come back to rest at this time in their family temple. As well as the family temple, visits are made to the village temple with offerings as well, and to the homes of other families who may have helped the family in some way over the past six months.
The day after Galungan is a time for a holiday, visiting friends, maybe taking the opportunity to head for the mountains for a picnic. Everyone is still seen to be in their ‘Sunday best’ as they take to the streets to enjoy the festive spirit that Galungan brings to Bali.
So, courtesy of Wikipedia and Arie, there you have it: a kind of Christmas, Halloween & Thanksgiving all rolled into one day.
See you on Friday.
Sean
Posted in General News | Comments Off
June 20th, 2007 indonesiaexport
Just writing that title (’Stepping Stones from Indonesia Export‘) makes me want to say all sorts of goofy, quite silly things or dig up some inspiring yet irrelevant quote… oh well, don’t worry, we won’t lead you down the garden path… sorry.
Mosaics and / or patterns made from pebbles, lava stone, chips of terracotta, patterned in wet concrete, brushed and buffed, ready for the garden. Simple but neat.
Pictures at:
http://www.indonesiaexport.com/frame.php?category=Stepping+Stones
Enjoy & remember:
One should never fear sorrow because it is the stepping stone to happiness…
Sean
Posted in New Products | Comments Off
June 8th, 2007 indonesiaexport
A selection of Mother of Pearl (Capiz) lampshades, table lamps and candleholders.
We were asked to supply these to a few of our customers and, once we saw them, decided everyone might like to take a look.
See them by going to:
http://www.indonesiaexport.com/frame.php?category=Capiz
We’ll have more models and types going up over the next week or two.
One last note: Capiz or Mother of Pearl products are made from the outer shell of farmed oysters. These shells are not restricled in any way under international law - production poses no threat to the environment and they’re perfectly legal to import.
Enjoy,
Sean
Posted in New Products | Comments Off
June 8th, 2007 indonesiaexport
First time we saw these products, we thought they were cute but we really hadn’t realised how big the market is for them around the world.
A quick search through Google or Yahoo will bring up thousands of websites talking about Fountains for the wall, table and desk. Most of those, you’ll find, are made from resin — probably mass produced in China.
Those of you who know us, will already understand that we can’t get our hands on resin very easily and all of our stuff is made by hand…
… so, here you go: handmade, terracotta, bamboo & stone fountains — most of them up to the 12 inch / 30 cm mark in terms of height.
Important: we won’t be supplying any of the electrical equipment like the pumps or cables but these are usually easily available in your home country.
Click here to see the range:
http://www.indonesiaexport.com/frame.php?category=Tabletop+Fountains
Enjoy,
Sean
Posted in New Products | Comments Off
June 4th, 2007 indonesiaexport
A quick note to explain that we’re going to close the comments section of our News & Updates area at Indonesia Export.
It’s just too much work.
This morning, I had 1,720 comments and, from what I could tell, not one of them was from a human being. Sad.
Along with the 1,720 dummy ads for drugs that do this and people that do that, I had another 943 bits of junk on one of our email accounts and over 800 bits of junk on the main email account.
I might not mind so much if I had super high speed internet but, alas, Bali is not the smartest tool in the shed when it comes to the Internet Superhighway.
So, I start getting the stuff at around 9 in the morning and now, it’s lunchtime.
Of course, if you do want to make a comment, send us an email.
Morning,
Sean
Posted in General News | Comments Off
