What if your friend told you that she had been offered a trip to Thailand by a brand that she loves. Would you hug her or “mistakenly” spill your latte on her overexcited head?
Soon I will exchange the concrete jungle that is Montreal for the green jungles of Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand, to explore how Artemano creates furniture that reminds us so much of Elsewhere and makes our homes feel like the best kind of escape. And I understand if you want to pour your latte on my head, but before you do, consider this an invitation to come with me.
I know you can’t drop everything at a moment’s notice, and after all - we barely know each other. So I will travel the 12 828km and put aside my ever-growing fear of flying to take the 3 airplanes there, and the 3 airplanes back. I will go cross-eyed with jetlag (thanks to 11 hours time difference), and I will submit my hair to 62% humidity and watch powerless as it morphs into a cotton-candy-meets-Lady-Gaga afro…for you.
And for me, because writing and flying are in my blood – my parents were foreign correspondents and I’ve traveled the world to write and shoot stories. Still, this feels like no small trip because I happen to be someone’s mother - I’m not embarking on this adventure lightly.
I’m going because from the first moment I walked into an Artemano store, I thought: yes! And then: how did I not know about this place before? And then: I want that bed made from Indian rosewood. And this table made from 200-year old Thai wood. And that coffee table made from reclaimed wood that was once an Indian railway line.
I’m inviting you to cross the world with me to learn how Artemano finds, designs, creates the furniture we love. I’ll gladly wander through the jungles that yield the wood you’re eating your dinner on. I’m looking forward to meeting the Thai people we work with and to watching Shimon Finkelstein, Artemano’s co-founder and constant traveler, in his element.
Photo credit Conteska Photography