Pig Decorations

These decorations are created by British designer Emily Readett-Bayley and a group of highly skilled woodcarvers and painters on the Indonesian island of Bali with whom we have worked for over 25 years. The artisans are part of an ancient rice farming community who cultivate Albizia trees around their rice fields to provide a sustainable wood source. The men and women use traditional artisan skills passed down from generation to generation to create their woodcarvings. Albizia is a hardwood but as it grows very fast it has a wide grain and is soft and light. The woodcarvers are masters at shaping the wood with a knife and sanding it smooth.

The craft industry provides an important secondary income to many people living in this rural farming community and uses the same agrarian labour sharing principles. This enables men and women to work the land and use their traditional artisan craft skills to earn a living. Other designers and importers on the island manufacture with cheaper wood composites such as MDF but we never ask our craftspeople to use these because they produce dangerous carcinogenic dust during the cutting process and expensive, hi-tech safety measures are required which are not generally used in a traditional craft workshop.