Catching up with my friend Mark in Seminyak Bali

One of the first people I met in Bali was antique expert Mark Platt.

His job is sourcing pieces of art and furniture for private buyers who are looking for something special.

We bumped into each other in Cafe Moka and I told him about the 2 guys I overheard who were planning to ship a whole container of bamboo furniture to the US. Mark told me me some interesting things. “There is a market for that stuff in the States, but it can be tough.” he said. A friend of his had the experience of shipping back some of the larger pieces of bamboo furniture and found he couldn’t sell it because it was too large for people’s houses.

Mark told me that often bamboo and rattan are riddled with insects and you have to deal with that. “The Filipinos are experts with bamboo and they will take it down to the ocean and soak it in salt water which will kill all the insects. After that they will dry it throughly. Any pieces that crack you throw away and any pieces that don’t will probably be good.”

Cheap bamboo furniture hasn’t been treated (there are more ways also of treating it) can be a nightmare waiting to happen. I know I have some in my house (rented) that have mites and every morning there is a little pile of dust under the holes where they have burrowed. Worse still would be wardrobe where you find your cloths sprinkled with dust after a day or two.

For people planning on shipping items from Bali back to Europe or the US there are other pitfalls. Mark once shipped back a small container of wooden items. He had carefully wrapped them in plastic so that nothing would happen to them in transit. A month or 2 later when he finally got them they were all covered in mold, the condensation inside the plastic had nowhere to go and the items were mostly ruined. Mark told me some of the little wooden decorations were packed in plastic by the shipping company. “I went back to the guy and said “I had a problem when my stuff arrived, the guy laughs and says “Your stuff get all moldy?” “They don’t give a damn.” he said.

According to Mark there are some things you must not do in the dry season and some things you must not do in the rainy season. For most wooden items you must leave them outside to get them to dry out as much as possible and do not wrap them in plastic.

I invited Mark to the bbq I was attending later in the day but he had to go to Ubud on a mission. He told me he has to fly to Lombok to supervise a guy sawing a massive block of wood which is worth a lot. “Why can’t you just tell him over the phone?” I said. “He says he’s worried about it breaking.” said Mark.

Another unique individual earning money in his own way.

If you’d like to have Mark help you source item in Bali his fee is $125 per day