For the love of Malaysian indigenous craft

We recently had a buyer who bought from almost all our Malaysian shops: Tompoq Topoh, Soning Craft, Gerai OA and Mang Tha. That sale made us so excited because it is one of the first few sales for our new shops, Mang Tha and Gerai OA.

Woven purse by Azita Yusof, from Gerai OA

When we first saw the order, I was on Google Chat with fellow field coordinator Su Li and I asked her, “OMG have you seen the recent sale?!”

“Wait I’m checking…….. wow..” replied Su Li.

“Can I take a breather first. Too excited.  Now too hyper to even see properly. YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!” Su Li added.

Su Li’s excitement mirrored mine.

Over a few email exchanges with the buyer, Dawn Boey, we realized that we found someone who loves and values indigenous craft as much as we do.

Su Li sent Dawn a photo of an artisan from Kembang Sejambak (Gerai OA) reading her testimonial on our Facebook Fanpage which says

“I’ve already received Gerai OA’s items. The quality of hand weaved wallets are simply, superb pieces of art!” Dawn Boey

Wati from Kembang Sejambak (Gerai OA), reading the print out of Dawn's testimonial

We informed Dawn that the artisans are overwhelmed by her comment which really helps raise their confidence and pride in their work. Many of them are always surprised that people would actually pay money for their craft!

She replied a lovely email which we must share:

You can tell the artisans that it’s not easy to get premium quality crafts anywhere, not even from our local popular souvenir shops.

When I was holidaying in Kota Kinabalu last May, I got upset & frustrated looking for quality snail-shell / natural-based jewelery from those shops. Thank God for the Soning sisters!

Can you imagine how much those shops profited from foreign tourists at the expense of our true artisans?

Plus, the souvenirs sold there are so common-looking & commercially (mass) produced!

The best about the hand-woven crafts from Gerai OA & Tompoq Topoh is that they are all one-of-a-kind which makes it even more unique!  I can actually feel the artisans’ sweat, effort & love (from their hearts) in making these lovely items.

These items are:

• more unique, superb quality workmanship
• meaningful (100% handmade by original-Malaysians),
• at my own convenience (no more scrambling, hunting high & low) &
• at the same time it’s for a good cause (preserving our culture, no more exploitation by providing a steady income to our local artisans & generally improving the quality lives of the community)

To tell you the truth, I feel so proud owning these lovely items that I’m soooooo reluctant to give away as X’mas gifts!

Lastly, if it’s not for you, Elevyn gals & guys, I wouldn’t even know such premium quality, local crafts ever existed.

Also, my special thanks for your sweat, effort & love in promoting our true-blue local artisans & helping out the OA’s community.

Dawn’s email means so much to me because it is exactly how I feel about Malaysian indigenous craft – which is the very reason why we as a team have been working on Elevyn.com.

Gendoi Samah collecting her woven bookmarks

As a start-up, it hasn’t been all easy trying to explain to people why these crafts are so amazing and why it’s important that the artisans are empowered to sell their craft directly to the buyers. Despite photos of the artisans toiling to make it and stories of their cultural significants – many people still compare the crafts with cheap trinkets from China and our neighboring countries.

Dawn Boey reminded us of why we started Elevyn and that our vision is shared by others such as herself. On behalf the team at Elevyn, we would like to wish many thanks to Dawn for renewing our spirit and enthusiasm.

Photo credits: Swift Ling (top), Khing Su Li (middle), Puah Sze Ning (bottom).

Know your purchase and order statuses

Keeping track of orders from Malaysia via PosLaju.

With e-commerce, it is important that buyers are informed of their order statuses once they make a purchase. For many, ourselves included, it sometimes feel like our orders fall into a black hole the moment we submit our payment details. We get a confirmation email, but have no idea on the status of our orders.

At Elevyn, we take this seriously. That’s why we make the time to write to our buyers manually – if that’s what it takes to ensure that our buyers are not talking to robots or automated scripts.

Additionally, we encourage buyers to select the shipping option of registered mails, if available, so they can keep track on the status of their packages.

The above is a screenshot of what happens when buyers make a purchase from any Malaysian shops on elevyn.com, and chooses express shipping (known as PosLaju). They are given a tracking number, and can check the progress of the package from within elevyn.com or via PosLaju’s website.

If you have any enquiries on our customer service, feel free to write to me, miketee@elevyn.com.

Behind the scenes: The nose-flute musicians

On 9th September 2009, field coordinator Su Li & myself went to Gombak which is half an hour away from Kuala Lumpur, together with Gerai OA’s Reita Rahim. Our purpose was to invite Bah Muda and Bah Raman, two very skillful nose-flute players to sell their craft on Elevyn.

Bah Muda playing the nose-flute

Bah Muda and Bah Raman are from the Semai ethnic group. Both currently reside in Batu 12, Gombak but come from different areas; Bah Muda from Pos Lenjang in Pahang while Bah Raman is from Cameron Highlands, Pahang.

As usual, one of us would give a brief explanation on Elevyn and our social entrepreneurship vision. After listening to our “pitch”, both artisans gave us their agreement to sell on Elevyn.com via Gerai OA!

Field coordinator Su Li explaining how Elevyn works, to Bah Muda & Bah Raman

I have known Bah Raman since 4 years ago while volunteering with Gerai OA and have seen the quality of his nose-flutes get better and better. So far, I’ve collected two of Bah Raman’s nose flutes which I treasure very much. So to have a chance to work with him on Elevyn.com is a huge delight!

Bah Raman (second from the right) jamming while volunteering at Gerai OA in 2006

A few years ago, I remember Bah Raman telling us that initially he didn’t know how to play the nose-flute, and it was only later in this adult life that he decided to learn to play this musical instrument traditional to his Semai culture. His late father was a master at it. Now, he studies from Bah Muda whom he calls his “sifu” (teacher/master).

Nose-Flutes

Most people would be shocked to see someone playing a flute with their nose, but it is quite common in many indigenous cultures around the world.

“Even though the nose flute itself is of a very simple design, it actually follows a known scientific principle. You don’t exhale directly into the flute but perpendicular to it. This creates a vacuum and that’s what causes air to be sucked into the flute,” Reita explained.

“The result? Very soothing melodies compared to a mouth flute,” she added.

The great thing about the artisans selling their crafts online is that we can do stuff like this – upload How To videos!!

Here’s another with Bah Muda demonstrating how to play a Tu-wet which is another musical instrument.

Check out the other great stuff on Gerai OA here.