By Rosli Abidin Yahya
Bamboo
settee from Bali.
Bali is renowned as one of the
best places in the world to buy furniture. The island offers a
wide selection of furniture made from wood, rattan, iron,
bamboo, leather and other natural materials.
However, such trips to the
country are on the decline due to the recent global outbreak of
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndromes (SARS) and the Bali bombing.
Noting a shortage of Bali-made
furniture in the country, Dave Gracia furniture shop in Kiulap
and Pengkalan Gadong rushed to the aide of the locals.
Lydia Iskandar, the
co-proprietor of the shop said she has been importing Bali
furniture ever since the bombing incident last year.
"At first, I only offered
Javanese furniture but people came to my shops asking for Bali
products. So I started to place orders for Bali products,"
she said.
She said her furniture came
from various parts of Bali such as furniture centres in Denpasar,
Kerobokan and Legian in Kuta and in the art village of Ubud in
Gianyar.
"Dave Gracia actually
represents hundreds of furniture companies operating in Bali.
"I also order from Evata
Bali Furniture, for example, which is a well-known chain store
in Bali offering quality furniture suites that feature sofas,
lounge chairs, tables, chairs and even bedroom pieces, including
headboards and mirrors," she said.
Furniture aside, Dave Gracia
also sells accessories such as wall clocks, lamp shades, picture
frames, candelabras and indoor and outdoor collections made from
mahogany and teak.
Lydia said she distributes
furniture made by Bali Rattan, one of Bali's biggest furniture
companies.
The local market as well as the
US and European markets, she said, prefer simple furniture made
from natural materials, such as wood, rattan and bamboo.
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