After months of making, testing, packing and second-guessing, Mandi7 finally left the kitchen table and went out into the world. Our first venture in public was a craft market at The Pippin pub in Bracknell — and it was a brilliant success.
On the road at 11:00 — batik and kebaya in place with a boatload of besek.
Eleven o'clock, car loaded
Dini and Indi set off at 11:00, the car full of besek baskets, dropper bottles, bath salts, oil burners and a batik cloth to dress the table. There's a particular kind of nervousness that comes with packing a whole small business into a boot and hoping you haven't forgotten the thing that matters.
Setting the table
The batik cloth went down first, then the baskets, then everything else found its place around them. Seeing it all laid out together — the woven bamboo, the purple labels, the little glass jars of dried flowers — was the first time Mandi7 looked like a real thing rather than an idea we'd been carrying around.
What the locals loved
People came, and they stayed to talk. Almost everyone stopped at the same moment: the first breath of the essential oil. That reaction — the pause, the second sniff, the "what is that?" — happened again and again all afternoon, and never stopped being lovely.
The clear favourite of the day was the One Day Spa. It seemed to be the idea as much as the contents — a whole ritual, ready in one little besek, something you could give yourself or give away.
Charlotte joined us
Our daughter Charlotte came along too, and became the day's best sales assistant — handing out samples, telling people which oil was her favourite and keeping us both laughing between customers. A family stall, in every sense.
Going home lighter
A hot day, a batik fan working overtime, and hours of real conversation with people in Bracknell about Java, about bamboo, about why we do this. We drove home with a lighter car and a much clearer sense of what Mandi7 is for.
First market done. There will be more.