Wednesday, 19 September 2007
The Great War of China!
Another busy day but with slightly more drama than usual. It was interesting to find out more about the workmanship and techniques that go into restoring our furniture. Drying rooms where the walls are covered in blankets and constantly sprayed with water, are used to dry out the many layers of lacquer under strong hot lights. Everything is handmade on site right down to the metal door furniture. Got back to the hotel in the afternoon in time to catch a fracas in one of the clothes shops between two ladies. Lots of shouting and then we saw some blood, but thankfully a hotel doctor turned up with a white coat and a stethscope. Off to find some more treasures today.
Tuesday, 18 September 2007
Treasure hunting
After a very enjoyable first night in the Shangri-la Hotel, we were up bright and early to visit the first of two suppliers. Our contact Cherie picked us up at 9am and as usual was outrageous and had us laughing all the way to the factory. We enjoyed copius amounts of green tea before Cherie and her boss Mr Chu showed us around and we found some fantastic products. As well as some of our usual buys we also discovered some very exciting new and different pieces, which we are sure will get a great reaction from our customers and the press.
Every Picture Tells a Story 16 September 2007
The final meeting in Jakarta may possibly have been the most hopeful of the day (decisions yet to be made) - we were given the opportunity to see examples of workmanship and range of furniture on a laptop presentation - however amongst a comprehensive archive of factory shots, popped up pictures of busty blondes and other tittilating surprises we assumed he'd kept for his own viewing pleasure - this was amusing for Mimmi & me as we tried our best to be seriously impressed with sideboard craftsmanship and wood qualities only to have the occasional X-rated magic eye picture interrupt the presentation.
And Now We Are Three.......................Monday 17th September
Back again to Hong Kong where Mimmi & I met up with Chris, showroom manager of our Chelsea store, who flew in from London, thrilled to be on his first trip to the Far East. He arrived in good sprits and we set off on the boat trip, to Zhongshan in China, to prepare for an intense and highly enjoyable 4 days of selecting restored Chinese antiques
The final meeting in Jakarta may possibly have been the most hopeful of the day (decisions yet to be made) - we were given the opportunity to see examples of workmanship and range of furniture on a laptop presentation - however amongst a comprehensive archive of factory shots, popped up pictures of busty blondes and other tittilating surprises we assumed he'd kept for his own viewing pleasure - this was amusing for Mimmi & me as we tried our best to be seriously impressed with sideboard craftsmanship and wood qualities only to have the occasional X-rated magic eye picture interrupt the presentation.
And Now We Are Three.......................Monday 17th September
Back again to Hong Kong where Mimmi & I met up with Chris, showroom manager of our Chelsea store, who flew in from London, thrilled to be on his first trip to the Far East. He arrived in good sprits and we set off on the boat trip, to Zhongshan in China, to prepare for an intense and highly enjoyable 4 days of selecting restored Chinese antiques
Sunday, 16 September 2007
Sunday 16th. Finding a new supplier in Indonesia
Jemma here -We arrived in Indonesia yesterday, from Hong Kong. We arrived in Hong Kong on Friday spent the night with friends in the beautiful Deep water Bay area. However we might have had a little too much to eat and drink in Wanchai, being keen to put jet-lag at bay, and it was a tough wake up call yesterday at 6am to return to the airport in to fly down here, we were both pretty quiet on the 5 hour flight!
We're staying in Jakarta, the capital city of Java, the most densley populated island in the world. There's little in the news about the recent earth-quake, but as it was in a remote area of Sumatra and the warnings of a Tsunami came to nothing, it seems, for most of us, to have passed by.
The temperature here is a debilitating 33 degrees and 85% humidity here which makes coping with the tiredness a bit tougher. However all our meetings are at our hotel, so not having to travel on the national domestic airline or spend much time on the roads is a relief going on past experience!
Potential suppliers today have arrived, from cities in Central Java, with lorry loads of furniture samples, made to our templates. The hunger for a contract is apparent, and we especially felt sorry for the two guys who'd driven for 12 hours in a tiny truck through the night. The reason for night travel is that, being the month of Ramadan, they are fasting during hours of daylight (even water was refused in our meeting) so travel at night allowed refreshments along the way.
As always, we now haved to decipher what was 'really' said in our meetings; communication is tricky in the sense of language, as well as culture, and we need to be sure that a new supplier will do their best for us once there is 6000 miles and just email between us, as containers full of mistakes are costly.
Our final meeting is about to take place and then we can relax for the evening and hope for a night uninterrupted by jet lag ( a couple of bottles of wine do help here with Brandy Alexander night-caps). We've a 6am start tomorrow to fly back to Hong Kong. Here we will meet our colleague, straight off the flight from the UK, and then get the ferry to China where we have daily visits to restoration factories to select restored antiques for our Winter collection
Jemma here -We arrived in Indonesia yesterday, from Hong Kong. We arrived in Hong Kong on Friday spent the night with friends in the beautiful Deep water Bay area. However we might have had a little too much to eat and drink in Wanchai, being keen to put jet-lag at bay, and it was a tough wake up call yesterday at 6am to return to the airport in to fly down here, we were both pretty quiet on the 5 hour flight!
We're staying in Jakarta, the capital city of Java, the most densley populated island in the world. There's little in the news about the recent earth-quake, but as it was in a remote area of Sumatra and the warnings of a Tsunami came to nothing, it seems, for most of us, to have passed by.
The temperature here is a debilitating 33 degrees and 85% humidity here which makes coping with the tiredness a bit tougher. However all our meetings are at our hotel, so not having to travel on the national domestic airline or spend much time on the roads is a relief going on past experience!
Potential suppliers today have arrived, from cities in Central Java, with lorry loads of furniture samples, made to our templates. The hunger for a contract is apparent, and we especially felt sorry for the two guys who'd driven for 12 hours in a tiny truck through the night. The reason for night travel is that, being the month of Ramadan, they are fasting during hours of daylight (even water was refused in our meeting) so travel at night allowed refreshments along the way.
As always, we now haved to decipher what was 'really' said in our meetings; communication is tricky in the sense of language, as well as culture, and we need to be sure that a new supplier will do their best for us once there is 6000 miles and just email between us, as containers full of mistakes are costly.
Our final meeting is about to take place and then we can relax for the evening and hope for a night uninterrupted by jet lag ( a couple of bottles of wine do help here with Brandy Alexander night-caps). We've a 6am start tomorrow to fly back to Hong Kong. Here we will meet our colleague, straight off the flight from the UK, and then get the ferry to China where we have daily visits to restoration factories to select restored antiques for our Winter collection
Friday, 14 September 2007
Tickets, money, passport...
Just two days to go before I jet off on my first trip to the far east to meet up with Jemma and Mimmi. To say I am excited is an understatement. Following the great reponse to our new London store, I am really looking forward to meeting all our suppliers in China and sourcing new products. Many of our visitors to the Kings Road shop have requested specific pieces and I am up for the challenge. I am sure our trip will be full of interesting finds and will keep you updated on our progress.
Monday, 10 September 2007
Packing & preparation
Having just checked the 7 day weather forecast for Hong Kong, the Northeast Monsoon is leaving the aresa unsettled with low pressure - this means that the humidity is high - 90% - and the temparature is in the 30s, but also it's raining daily so it will be sticky and uncomfortable, especially rummaging around in the hot restorer's premises.
We are also busy making up the 'shopping lists' of requests from customers who are looking for particular cabinets or tables which we shall find along with more unusual pieces such as decorative window panels and alter tables.
Many cereal bars will be packed as part of our efforts to avoid the offerings of local food which we've politely suffered one too many times so Special K over-rules snake nowadays - the rest we just stel at breakfast from the hotel bufffet and pick at muffins and other pastries during the day to keep the wolf from the door until we get back to the civilsation (?!) of the hotel in the evening - more on that later
We are also busy making up the 'shopping lists' of requests from customers who are looking for particular cabinets or tables which we shall find along with more unusual pieces such as decorative window panels and alter tables.
Many cereal bars will be packed as part of our efforts to avoid the offerings of local food which we've politely suffered one too many times so Special K over-rules snake nowadays - the rest we just stel at breakfast from the hotel bufffet and pick at muffins and other pastries during the day to keep the wolf from the door until we get back to the civilsation (?!) of the hotel in the evening - more on that later
Wednesday, 5 September 2007
Planning our trip
Wednesday 5th September
Mimmi, Chris (our London showroom manager) and I are now counting down to our hectic trip to China & Indonesia leaving next Thursday. As always, our tour of suppliers and restorers of furniture in Jakarta and Southern China is incredibly intense, allowing no time for recovering from jet-lag and general exhaustion. We have scheduled meetings with allour suppliers who will collect us from the hotel and take us to their premises - our fingers will be crossed that they don't, as they have on more than one occasion, drive up the fast lane of the higway in the wrong direction.
Many customers have utilised our 'personal shopping' service, and we are colating a long list of requirements - once in China we shall email pictures of pieces we feel are suitable so that they can give the go-ahead to ship them home in our forthcoming container. These items range from large wedding cabinets to small but beautifully lacquered bedside cabinets.
We have already switched from China Airlines to Cathay Pacific for our return journey from Hong Kong to Jakarta - the recent incident involving China Airlines put us off entirely what was already a rather fragile decision!
These trips are always fun but totally exhausting and we do get excited at the thought of a few days very serious shopping and discovering beautiful items but our time in the east is never without drama and our blog to come will include all those moments - and will be logged by Mimmi and Chris as well as myself
Mimmi, Chris (our London showroom manager) and I are now counting down to our hectic trip to China & Indonesia leaving next Thursday. As always, our tour of suppliers and restorers of furniture in Jakarta and Southern China is incredibly intense, allowing no time for recovering from jet-lag and general exhaustion. We have scheduled meetings with allour suppliers who will collect us from the hotel and take us to their premises - our fingers will be crossed that they don't, as they have on more than one occasion, drive up the fast lane of the higway in the wrong direction.
Many customers have utilised our 'personal shopping' service, and we are colating a long list of requirements - once in China we shall email pictures of pieces we feel are suitable so that they can give the go-ahead to ship them home in our forthcoming container. These items range from large wedding cabinets to small but beautifully lacquered bedside cabinets.
We have already switched from China Airlines to Cathay Pacific for our return journey from Hong Kong to Jakarta - the recent incident involving China Airlines put us off entirely what was already a rather fragile decision!
These trips are always fun but totally exhausting and we do get excited at the thought of a few days very serious shopping and discovering beautiful items but our time in the east is never without drama and our blog to come will include all those moments - and will be logged by Mimmi and Chris as well as myself
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