We asked who taught them how to carve and paint these sculptures, “I learnt on my own before switch to work sales in the shop,” says Nengah. They get their inspiration for the different designs the shop produces both from Kadek, whose natural eye for carving and interesting ideas lends itself to the business but also customers do make special request.  A skiing Santa duck in a place where no skiing has ever happened for example!   

Covid has made business difficult this year with orders slowing down but also a challenge getting materials, Kadek says it has been “difficult to get material from Java because transportation from Java not normal like before covid.” Most of the various wood, often bamboo is sourced from the much bigger island due to the abundance of it.    

 There number one product, which is ours as well, is their duck with sandals! A favourite of tourist on the islands many beaches and for those who wander into their street side store where they also sell their products retail and not just to overseas wholesale customers like us.    

If there is an upside to the slow down in the village Nengah says, “there is lots of green in the village and even though it is not busy we are doing ceremonies together with people in the village who are normally busy with work. It has been nice to get to spend the time together and to talk and share.”