For the following two weeks stay in Yogyakarta Warjiyo became our guide. At the time he would cycle some 15 miles from his home in Bantul on the coast to Yagya every day to ply his trade. After a hard days labour he would then cycle 15 miles home again. As time passed by, myself and my wife Rachel, found ourselves returning to Yogya more frequently to buy batik paintings and other crafts for the business, Warjiyo was becoming invaluable to us as an agent - his knowledge of the area and it’s local suppliers was unsurpassed. To us, he was like a Yogya equivalent of the London cabbie. Five years ago he decided to set up his own small workshop to make Mahogany furniture for us. Since then, both our businesses have grown and he now employs 47 workers making all of our Rustic Teak furniture.

A devout Muslim and a quiet man, Warjiyo has a wife Sri and four children. Effie, his eldest child, is 18 and hopes to go to university to become a doctor. Warjiyo is a respected man in his home village and following a recent pilgrimage to Mecca, now has the status of being a ‘Haji’.

We are proud that we have seen his situation improve dramatically over the last 14 years and are also grateful to have found a man of such integrity that we can trust.

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