Silver smiths/jewellers

slops

New Member
Apr 13, 2004
4
0
1
australia
Hi, sorry about the user name but i know its never taken in forums.

Anyway, I have a friend who is a jeweller in perth, Western Australia. She has a lot of designs that sell well all around australia. Unfortunately, her production costs are high. All her work is hand crafted and therefore her market is reduced to galleries and shops that move high quality products.

We are travelling through bali, thailand, laos, vietnam, cambodia and back through bali for 3 months. We leave in just 3 weeks. Part of the trip is going to be trying to find jewellers to make some of the components of her work. The plan is to then put the final pieces together back in australia and reduce the overall production cost. Other local jewellers have had success doing this. Unfortunately, it is not the sort of thing you can ask them since they are effectively the competition.

So I was hoping someone from this forum could point us in the right direction. In any of the countries mentioned above but especially bali since "business trips" (surfing included :D ) would be easiest to bali. Names of individual companies or just general regions to look into would be great. Hints on what to be careful of, or how to import the product back into australia would also be greatly appreciated.

thanks for any responses.
Simon
ps this site looks great and is well set out. Much better than a lot of other forums ive been surfing...
 

Tracey

Member
Mar 26, 2004
494
0
16
Melbourne, Australia
Slops(?)
Sorry I cannot help, but there are numerous jewellers in Bali, so perhaps when you are there you could discuss with a few & see where that takes you!?
Good Luck!
 

slops

New Member
Apr 13, 2004
4
0
1
australia
Yeah.
Ive been to bali quite a few times. In the early years with my family I remember going to an area with a lot of silver jewellery.

But ofcourse finding someone you trust and think can do the job is only a small part of the work. I imagine there are other logistical situations we will have to work through to get the stuff into Australia. Im quite sure a mutually beneficial relationship could be built between ourselves and some local balinese jewellers. I have searched the web to find jewellers in bali, but with limited success. I would really like to find someone who has been recommended and ideally has experience in exporting the product to australia. If anyone has experience exporting goods to australia i would appreciate your comments too. I have been checking this post regularly to see if anyone has posted a reply.
cheers
simon
 

Roy

Active Member
Nov 5, 2002
4,835
1
36
Ubud, Bali
The area you were in some years ago was almost certainly Celuk. It is the main village in Bali for silver and gold jewelry work.

I know a number of expats in the Ubud area who are doing exactly what you are looking for. However, as you can imagine, having invested years in setting up the right business, and with trusted local craftspeople, well, the bottom line is, this information is highly proprietary. I mean, who wants to “give up” their sources?

I would suggest you plan a nice long 30 day trip over here. Stay in the Ubud area, network to the extent you can with local expats…(Naughty Nuris is a famous local hangout for expats), and spend a lot of time in Celuk doing what you need to do, i.e., homework.

Also, it would help you a lot to hire a locally based driver, who can be trusted, speaks English very well, and in fact knows many of the Balinese silversmiths. If you send me a PM, I’ll be happy to share his contact information with you.
 

slops

New Member
Apr 13, 2004
4
0
1
australia
thank you Roy.

Thank you Roy.
This much information is all I really expected to recieve from this forum. I never expected people to advertise their business secrets over a forum. But a point in the right direction is great.
cheers
simon
 

Roy

Active Member
Nov 5, 2002
4,835
1
36
Ubud, Bali
Well then, I guess the point in the right direction is Celuk?

A lot of mixing around here with others will do you well also.

I admit though to a slight unease in my gut with my last post. And I hope I did not leave the false impression that expats here are unwilling to help or assist with others that chose Bali as their home. That is FAR from reality.

I will freely admit that what I will share on this forum is far less than what I am willing to share with friends, and even new comers to Bali. That is face to face, and NO forum can bring that humanity.

I hate country clubs, but freely admit to membership in several. I left all that behind me, the bullshit, the conniving, and the screwing each other’s wives.

The “Wall Street” greed is good speech and was my epistle then, but it is no longer the reason I wake up in the morning. For me, waking up happy is having my three boys tugging, pulling and laughing all over me.
 

slops

New Member
Apr 13, 2004
4
0
1
australia
cool

yep...no worries.
Im happy to get any replies. You guys have been really helpful, and I think I have a few leads (from the forum and from external) meaning a bit less leg work when we get to bali.

Sounds like the good life. I'd love to make the move to bali....but it would mean a change in jobs....unless there's a demand for oceanographers over there. Boat charters appeal to me. any jobs around???
simon
 

antje

New Member
Apr 22, 2004
7
0
1
bali/germany
I know a very high quality producing silver company, she is from america/ he is indonesian. But they are not cheap as well.
If you are still interested, contact me,
angie
 
G

Guest

Guest
A psychologist gives a glass sphere filled with water to an engineer, a mathematician and a computer user and asks each of them to take their sphere into a room on their own and work out how many litres of water are in it.

After an hour the psychologist goes in to the first room to see what the engineer has come up with. The engineer says "well I thought about the problem a lot and I think the best way is to fill up a large container with water and drop the sphere in. The amount of run off water will be the same as the volume of the sphere.

The psychologist goes to the second room to check on the mathematician. The mathematician says "well of course this problem is trivial because the volume of the sphere can easily be calculated by applying the formula (4/3)*Pi*(r**3).

On entering the third room the psychologist finds the computer user with eyes downcast, there's water all over the floor, no sign of the sphere and a broken window. The psychologist asks "what happened?". "I don't know" replies the computer user, "I didn't do anything".
 

FreoGirl

Member
Dec 21, 2004
706
0
16
Fremantle, Australia
I think it is a good thing if someone comes across an old post and updates it with some relevant information.
Too often people come onto this forum as newbies to Bali, ask all sorts of questions, and then disappear - never to return and share their experiences.

I Ketut Pasta is indead a good source for jewellery in Celuk. I mostly deal with his wife who is very helpful. Their prices are good for the quality. If you want cheap try Komang Adi.
 

RussNobbs

New Member
There are at least 2 silver casting operations in Bali that can do production custom work. This could work for someone wanting components to be assembled in their home country into finished product as well as finished goods. If there is interest I'll dig out the names and locations.

I think it's good to bring old threads to the top so newbies can find them tho a search for jewelry and related terms usually finds them. I've posted lists of bead resources over in BTF that are still easy to find.
 

MiSO

Member
Jul 29, 2009
400
0
16
I didn't want to open a topic about this, because I was sure the topic had been already opened...somewhere...and here it is! Thanks all!