FOUR VILLAGES
They have never met.
They are keeping the same thing.
A silversmith in Celuk. A woman in Ubud who folds canang before she twists thread. A gamelan smith in Tihingan. An old carver in Mas.
Each Parwata piece is made from start to finish by one of them, in small batches, in their own village, at their own bench. They are paid fairly for the work, and 5% of every order comes on top.
WAYAN · CELUK · SILVER
Wayan sets silver
the way his father did.
Celuk, south of Ubud, is Bali's village of gold and silver. Its craft began, the village says, with the Pande, Bali's old clan of metalsmiths. Today almost every family in Celuk works metal.
Wayan learned at his father's bench: fine wire, granulation, a stone set by hand. He makes our silver: the Barong charm, the Sekala Niskala ring, the Padma earrings. On Tumpek Landep, his hammers and files lie beside the offerings with everyone else's.
NI MADE · UBUD · THREAD
Ni Made's day begins
with a canang.
Every morning Ni Made folds the canang for her family compound: palm leaf, flowers in their directions, a little rice, a coin. In the afternoon she twists red, white and black cotton into our Tridatu bracelets.
Ours are not temple threads. A tridatu thread is received at a temple, during an odalan, and worn on the right wrist. Ni Made makes bracelets in the same three colors, for keeping every day.
NYOMAN · TIHINGAN · BRONZE
Nyoman forges gongs,
and our five metals.
In Tihingan, in Klungkung, the pande smiths forge the bronze, brass and copper of the gamelan. Nearly the whole village works in the craft.
Between gamelan orders, Nyoman hammers our Panca Datu pieces: five metals drawn out, twisted and closed around one red stone, the way the legend says the five were buried together at the foot of the mountain.
KETUT · MAS · SEED & WOOD
Ketut knots each mala
against his own.
Mas is Bali's village of woodcarvers. Ketut works wood and seed there, and knots our malas: 108 genitri seeds, the rudraksha that Dewi Saraswati holds in her hand.
He has prayed on the same mala for forty years. He knots slowly, one seed at a time, and checks each new strand against it.
5% to the hands
Tri Hita Karana, the Balinese idea of harmony, asks for it in three places: with the divine, with the land, and with each other. This is our part of the third.
1 · You choose a piece
Every piece is made by one maker, named on its page.
2 · 5% goes to its maker
5% of your order goes to the maker of the piece, on top of what we pay for the work.
3 · We publish the totals
Once orders open, we will publish here what has gone to each maker.
Questions about our makers
Is the 5% part of their pay?
No. We pay each maker for the work first. The 5% comes on top, from every order, starting with the first.
What if my order has pieces by more than one maker?
Each maker receives 5% of the price of the pieces they made.
Are these the real makers?
Not yet. During this design preview, Wayan, Ni Made, Nyoman and Ketut are representative portraits. Their villages and crafts are real; the names and stories stand in for the makers we are meeting now. When the first pieces are made, this page will carry our makers' own names, faces and words, with their consent.
Do the makers bless the pieces?
No. Our makers make jewelry. We do not sell blessings, ceremonies or offerings made on anyone's behalf.
Receive the island letter
Hear from the makers on the days Bali keeps: Purnama, Tilem and every Tumpek.
