My thoughts and learning about this business
Mandi7 finally left the kitchen table. A craft market at The Pippin pub in Bracknell — the car loaded at 11:00, the batik cloth down, and a whole afternoon of locals falling for the smell of the essential oil.
Kecapi, suling, sinden — and why Mandi7 has a playlist. In West Java — the Sunda region — there's a kind of music that doesn't sound like the gamelan of Central Java. It's softer. More melancholy. And it stays with you.
Pivoted around a restored Indonesian-Bulgarian Citronella Factory from 1963, Rumah Atsiri Indonesia is now transformed to house various activities related to holistic wellness, essential oil education, recreation, research & development, and production activities.
Besek, ceramics, and a city where craft is still ordinary. Yogyakarta is an arts city. But not in the way a Western city might brand itself. Here, craft isn't a revival or a movement. It's just how things are made.
Bamboo bends, splits, weaves, and holds. In Java, it becomes everything — walls, baskets, food wrapping, ceremony. The besek is just one shape bamboo takes, but it carries centuries of resourcefulness inside it.
Dini returns to Indonesia — this time, looking. I've been back to Jakarta many times since moving to England. But this trip was different. I went back with Mandi7 in my head, and suddenly I saw everything.
A good photo doesn't happen by accident. Before we left for Lombok, we packed the product carefully — the besek, the candle, the dried flowers — not sure if we'd use them, but ready if the moment came.
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