Hands that remember

Kamasan is the only village in Bali still painting in the classical wayang style — scenes from the Ramayana and Mahabharata in natural pigments on cloth. I Nyoman Kondra learned from his father; his paintings hang in the Klungkung palace.

We visited him in August 2026. It is the oldest living school of painting on the island.

The village of Mas near Ubud has carved wood for generations — Bali’s most famous masks and figures come from here. Karya Mas is the workshop of I Wayan Latra’s family; in August 2026 we spent an afternoon there among suar-wood Buddhas, topeng masks and openwork panels.

Every figure starts as a single block, a charcoal sketch and a chisel. The finish is wax and patience — no varnish, so the grain stays visible.

Ketut Puja’s gallery in Mas is a hall of solid suar and teak slabs — single-trunk tables, consoles, root side tables. The timber comes from managed plantation felling and dries for months before it meets chisel and sander.

Our coffee tables and consoles come from here. We chose the slabs ourselves, grain by grain.

Suputra Natural Incense is a family workshop making herbal incense. In the courtyard, bundles of hand-rolled sticks dry in the sun — sandalwood, resins and flowers, no synthetic fragrance.

We visited in August 2026. The scent that met us at the gate is in every pack of our incense.

In the Sidemen valley below Mount Agung, endek and songket are woven on hand looms. At Pelangi Traditional Weaving a dozen women work to the rhythm of the shuttle — one metre of gold-thread songket can take a week.

Sidemen textiles will join Sari Bali with the next container. For now we show the workshop, because its story holds the whole island together.

Batubulan is a village of stone carvers: hundreds of statues in grey volcanic paras stone and greenish sandstone line the road. Yuliani’s workshop makes temple guardians, Buddhas and reliefs — from block to last chisel stroke, all by hand.

Sari Bali’s stone basins and decor come from this same carving tradition.