OUR ARTISAN PRODUCERS

Zang makes some of our traditional Vietnamese musical instruments at his workshop about half an hours drive from Hanoi. We've been buying from him since 2007.

Ganesh provides our shop with all lovely woollen Nepali blankets. We've worked together ever since I met him in 2015.

Harish helps us with supply of Sitar accessories and other Indian Musical instruments. Harish says "Lockdown changed everything here. Life became hard after Covid19. To be honest your orders are helping me alot"

Luis and his family are traditional Guatemalan artisans and sell their crafts in Antigua, a small city in southern Guatemala. We met his lovely family in 2016 when searching for new products. Luis continues working in their family business, Cosas Chapinas, to fund his studies at university. He said "I am grateful for the support (Terrapin) give us by buying our products, each purchase they make helps us to continue studying and contributing to the country's economy."

GUIU offers educational and economic empowerment programs for vulnerable young women and girls in Uganda. We met with the girls with our dress designs who made our bespoke Kitenge range from beautiful hand selected bright fabrics.

Here is a photo of talented Ema in Bali with her husband in her shop in Bali. We have worked with her since our original trip in 2007, when she had a single tiny shop making upcycled clothing from patches of vintage Indonesian Batik material. With her amazing skills and hard work, we have watched her slowly build her business and she now has a few shops and dressmakers who work together to make and send orders of her beautiful clothes throughout Europe and Australia.

Louis has a small shop in Ubud called Jolly Art shop, where he makes and sells men's and women's clothing and bags, combining modern designs with traditional tailoring skills and vintage Batik materials. He is also a very good musician and was very welcoming to us in Ubud, where he introduced us to the local people in the town. He has close friends in Borneo and Sulawesi where he sourced for us a few select tribal pieces from their rich culture.

We have self-designed yak sleeping bags made by Nasreen's women's collective, "We’re a fair trade, eco-conscious collective of women who create unique fashion and decor in Nepal. Our mission is to help empower and educate women, enabling them to write their own destiny. We provide a safe space for women who have escaped abusive practices in the textile industry and other injustices in their local communities. By buying our products, you’re not just purchasing handmade, unique items, you’re also helping us educate women with skills that allow them to support themselves."

We first met Jamal in 2009 when we were in search of Moroccan delights and travelled to Marrakesh to visit the labyrinth of souks filled with beautiful artisanal crafts. Jamal was warm welcoming to us in true Moroccan hospitality and is great to work with. He has a shop where he sells beautiful locally handmade and hand-stitched Moroccan leather bags and pouffes. He also co-ordinates with his artisanal neighbours to bring us our gorgeous Moroccan slippers and musical instruments. I visited him in 2024 to work together to bring scores of new products to Terrapin.

We met Maritza in 2011 at her workshop. Since then she has set up a workers collective of mainly women to make the traditional items we sell from Bolivia including our alpaca wool items and charangos. We are delighted to work with someone with such enthusiasm and social conscience. Look out for our featured blog post on how these items are made.

Nanang has a small workshop and store in Bali where he makes beautiful pipes, feathered hairpieces and head-dresses, as well as clothing, purses and pouches, and we love all his intricately made art and handicrafts. We have been placing small orders with him since 2017 when David went to Bali in search of more unusual hand made items.

I met Khaled when I went backpacking around Jordan with my mum. It was her first backpacking trip and she loved the culture and beauty of this fascinating country. He accompanied me to the markets to meet with the local people who have small art, musical instruments and craft shops. We have continued a lovely friendship with his family and he continues to help us with our shop by organising the collection and export both from his shop and those of his neighbours.

We met Giang in Hoi An, an ancient canal town in Vietnam. The town has an amazing mix of architecture from different eras and styles from French colonial buildings, Japanese bridges, Chinese shophouses and Vietnamese tube houses. It is famous for its stunning Vietnamese lanterns that decorate the streets with colour and light. Giang and her family are traditional lantern makers, a craft that has been passed down through the generations. She has a beautiful young family and has worked very hard to build her business.

I chanced upon Sonthaya's amazing shop when I was spending my days immersed in the world's largest market, Chatuchak in Bangkok. He provides us with an array of handmade board games such as chess, solitaire and MahJong. We have been working together since 2017 and continue to expand our range to include all the wooden games he produces.

I met Uttam in 2017 when searching for new products. He helped me to co-ordinate the shipments of all my samples home and we have worked with him ever since. He produces many of our Nepalese clothes and provides support in coordinating the orders from his neighbours.

Tans amazing workshop is completely built out of bamboo. He builds bikes, houses and all manner of bamboo items. He is a master of the art and we are lucky to have him supply some of his items to our shop. If you ever go to Vietnam be sure to visit his open workshop and learn the art.

Nanang and his family create our replica native american items like pipes and masks. We've worked together since 2016 and his items are some of our most popular. We are gradually increasing our range to include more of his handcrafted marvels!

Paraic McNeela is an expert bodhrán maker based in Dublin, Ireland. When he started making bodhráns, Paraic joined a fraternity known as The Bodhrán Makers. The Bodhrán Makers shared their knowledge and experiences together in the intricacies of their craft. Since then however, Paraic is one of the only members of that fraternity still producing bodhráns.

Pralads workshop in Kathmandu, Nepal produces our felt products. Felt Ball rugs, bags and also our excellent Nepalese Wool Felt Slippers. We have been working with Pralad since 2017.

Turhan crafts the Kanun, the mythical Turkish piano. His family have been making and playing them for generations. I met him at his workshop in Istanbul and saw the his love of the instrument and the craft.

Raju is a nomadic gypsy who roams with his family and goats throughout the Rajasthani desert. Born into the Bhopa tribe of musicians and makers, Raju is a skilled maker of the Ravanhatta, believed to be the most ancient of stringed instruments.

Sandeep and his dad operate a small religious shop in the holy town of Pushkar, Rajasthan where they sell all kinds of Hindi and Buddhist artefacts in their tiny Aladdin's cave.

Kamal is the last maker of completely handmade footballs in the world. A ball takes at least a day to make. Taught by his father - he made his first ball when he was 12 he has been making footballs for 30 years. Having heard about him on TV I managed to track him down persuade him to make some footballs for Terrapin!

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