Back to the Chili Bowls and trays … one of my favorite products and one of my favorite suppliers .. Augustine and his family.

This is my second year of trading with Augustine and we are definately moving forward. Its a slow process .. we are both small traders … but its a worthwhile one - I really believe in him and his products.  

I placed an order of the Chili Bowls (big and small) at the end of January, so I retuned at the beginning of April to;

1) Check, collect and ship the order. Watch Augustine paint if possible.

   Checking and packaging the order late at night .. a ball ache of a process and very hot .. takes much longer than you would think, and silly things like getting hold of decent size and strength card board boxes can be tricky and take time.

  new fruit design has worked out well.

     Augustine painting a large yellow pepper bowl. great to watch him doing it … the skill and experience he has.

      

Augustine and his son (Augustine jnr) working together. Augustine Jnr is a fan of Bad Boy Rapper 50 Cent styliii hats and likes his new headphones … he is 14. 

2) On the way to and from the wood supplier we talked more in depth (through Sue who acted as a fluent Spanish translator) about longer term plans and also we learned a little more about Augustine and his story.

a) The next 18months plans - We discussed lead times  and agreed that 3 months notice was sufficient from ordering the wood to painting and shipping and arrival in the UK. 2 orders should be placed a year in January and July/August. This should give Happy-Hammock stock for the summer festival season and the Autumn Charity and Christmas seasons.   

b) Future … Augustine currently has his wife and his son who take on some painting jobs. He also employs 2 other painters when there is overflow work. These people concentrate on specific designs where he takes on the more complicated or important work. Excluding the everyday selling from the stall, he has 2 other major clients in Mexico and the group of 3 including Happy-Hammock is more than enough work for now. He is happy for our order size to increase over time as we are one of the origional 3 suppliers he is committed to … LUCKY!! 

Augustine and I have agreed that over the next 18months we have to find a way to communicate and order/supply dirrectly, as it will not be possible for me to visit Mexico every year.

My committment to this process is to continue learning Spanish … all communication can be in Spanish. Augustine’s committment is to investigate ways that he and his son can learn to use the computer and the internet. I have agrred to come back next year to take this further and maybe invest in a short course for the son (who is more open to the idea and would be a good investment for the future for both parties).   

c) Augustine the man - about 5 years ago Augustine moved (illegally) to Houstan (Texas, USA) for 3 years. He left Slyvia and the children behind in Mexico and didn’ t come back to them for the full 3 years. This seems to be a similar story for many Mexicans that was to make any significant amount of money quickly. Augustine did this so that he could buy his current market stall from his sister. A wise decision in the long run, but must have been very difficult for them all at the time. He worked for a nice man doing gardening and any other oddjobs that came up. He told us about the place he got accross the border and how a group of c. 8 of them hired a ‘coyote’ to get them accross. This is a Mexican that acts as their guide and each memeber in the group paid him US$2,000 (!). Augustine commented on how the ‘coyotes’ are very rich mexicans now, and how you don’t really need them but they play on your innocence and the dangers if you haven’t crossed before … to make you think that you do need them.

Augustine is such a nice man that I feel relieved that he found a good American to work for. I have heard other stories of how they can be exploited and treated badly. I guess if you are illegal they have you over a barrell. It made me think of the Eastern Europeans in the UK right now.    

3) Visit the wood supplier to get more information on this part of the supply chain:

   View of the village (Acahuizotla) as we came into it. Pretty isolated.

  Carpenters work shop on the side of a field.

    Pre and post carving.

We were very lucky in that Augustine came with us on this trip and let the carpenters know that we wanted to see them work and talk about their side of the operation. The 3 main men that met us were Alberto, Bernado and Raul. There were others hanging around but I think they were just curious about 2 white girls turning up to see a carpenter at work! 

  First step … Bernando sawing up the tree trunks into the right sizes. He told us that you need to have a licence to chop down trees - he assured us that he has one although I didnt feel able to ask to see it at this stage. He also told us that the new government that came in ayear or so ago has been making it clear that they are concerned about deforrestation. Bernando told us of a programme of re-planting that has come in in the last year, and how there is a new nursery near by where new trees are being grown.

Second step was to watch Alberto carve out a bowl. The diameter of the required bowl is marked on the raw circular piece of wood which is then attached to a motorised spinning wheel (like a potters wheel). Alberto then goes to work and within a few minutes the bowl starts to take form. This really is hand made … it made me realise that getting a standardised shape may be possible but the bowls will never all be EXACTLY the same because a machine doesnot control the shaping process.   

Alberto carving a bowl ….   

        

      

Types of wood used :

a) Huimuchil - a tropical wood, light, grown locally and easy to carve. Favoured by Augustine because it is a blonde wood so easy to paint over with white or yellow and no ’shadows’ show through.

b) Parotoa - again a tropical wood but lighter and darker in colour. Not favoured by Augustine because of the colour but we discussed using this for the bowls with the natural background because it gives them more texture.

 the gang…Bernado, Augustine and Alberto 

  beers all round … after a hectic day seemed rude not too and the boys certainly appreciated it as a ‘thank you’.

New ideas:

  Discussing options for the sizes and shapes of the bowls.

  Ideas … stacking bowls .. maybe sets of 3 or 4 bowls.

All in all a very interesting, sucessfull and productive visit. A good day for Happy-Hammock!

Hobo out!

 

 

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