I guess you’ve been wondering where we’ve been for the last few weeks – our blog entries have been quite sporadic. Sorry! Well as it turns out, we have just arrived home from a 2 week buying trip to India! What an adventure that was, and an exciting one for us! We can’t wait for our 40 foot container to arrive full of all sorts of goodies – bone inlay furniture, industrial furniture, reclaimed wood furniture, textiles, rugs (jute and cotton), one off kantha pouffes, one off kantha chairs, one off large kantha ottomans, leather sofas, metal Tolix style dining chairs… the list goes on!!! To be honest, I can’t even remember half of the pieces we bought, but I do know how excited I will be when they all arrive. We just couldn’t choose what to leave out, so we decided to keep going and fill a 40 foot container, instead of our normal 20 footer. Be sure to email us if you are interested in receiving a newsletter advising the arrival of our new shipment!
Being our first ever trip to India, we really didn’t know what to expect. We allowed ourselves plenty of time so that we could have a good search around to source different, unique items. The first few days were frustrating and a real challenge, trying to find our way around in the back of a noisy auto-rickshaw, surrounded by blazing horns, dust, sweltering heat and all sorts of unpleasant smells. It was mind boggling, but at the same time such a fantastic experience. At times we both asked ourselves ‘What are we doing here?’. It’s so hard to describe the feeling, but I’m sure those who have traveled to India before could relate to it… you can have the worst morning of your life, but in the same day have the best afternoon of your life. Or you can see something really amazing next to something so disgusting! It’s quite bazaar really. When we finally found the goods we had been looking for, it felt like we had landed in a pot of gold, but then you would end up having exactly the same experience a day later, bad morning, good afternoon or vice versa!
We have our fingers crossed that the container will arrive early November – but will email out a newsletter to all of those on our mailing list and also blog about its arrival.
There is something to see everywhere in India. Everywhere you look there is an abundance of colour and culture. That’s what makes it such a great experience. Driving from city to city by car, it’s hard to stop yourself from looking out the window the whole way at the busyness of the streets and the bizarre happenings (but also because you like to focus on the road – they take tailgating to a new level!). Cows, camels, elephants, pigs and dogs roam the streets and curl up in the middle of the highway for a snooze if they feel like it! It’s incredible really, it’s almost like they know they won’t be touched, as animals are sacred in India.
We took so many photos! As usual Danny had his head glued to the back of the camera and when it was on my side of the car it would be “quick, check that out, get a photo of it!” As amateur photographers we have a lot to learn about shooting through car windows and rickshaws at pace, even with a reasonably good SLR. This blog is a sample of the amazing scenes and people we saw – some Homewares and furniture to come at a later stage.
I’m sure Danny will also have a lot to tell you too, so I might leave some of it for him! But we are off to China again on the 18th of this month with yet another container of antique goodies to bring home with us! Don’t ask me where we are going to store it all!!!!! I hope you are all well and enjoying the first few days of spring… it’s been such beautiful weather. Until next time…. Tara xo
