Oh dear has it really been that long since I last blogged, so long and I'm still talking about the weather! Yes I'm obsessed and when it was 12 degrees and raining on the first day of Autumn in Bowral, I was really most put out. Luckily, things have improved and in Autumn we've been inspired by earthy colours which is a little bit different from the usual bright colour that are associated with Tendance Khmere. Don't worry we still have those colours available too, but the new range of 60cm x 30cm designer cushions bring a mixture of cotton fabric with an almost Japanese feel to it mixed with the earthy tones of red, oranges and golds reminiscent of the turning leaves on a Maple Tree in Japan or an Oak Tree in Bowral during this season. Only newly available in Australia, check out this new range from Tendance Khmere:

And by "earthy" we mean we've also got those tones that will be understated and elegant, tans, browns and warm pale greens...

And if you're after the traditional Tendance Khmere trademark colours, we haven't forgotten you with lime green, plum and petrol blue...

In the recent "heatwaves" that have hit all over Australia, it has really made me think of how we handled the heat while living in Cambodia. The hot season brings an average of 35 to 40  degrees each day, with no relief for days on end, almost months...I came across this email that I wrote home to family and friends while living in Prey Veng, which I thought painted a good picture of April in Cambodia, where loud music mingles with the humid air...

"I shouldn’t speak too soon, but there’s no religious music belting out over loudspeakers near our house today…there’s almost silence…well there’s still the neighbours…they’ve been making minced pork for a while now, chop, chop, chop, chop, and there’s the bread selling lady, walking down the street yelling ‘noom paaaaan, noom paaaaan’ – she has baguettes arranged nicely in a cane basket on her head – it’s nice when you catch her and get fresh bread delivered in the morning….the dogs are barking, there’s a few mangoes and coconuts plopping from the trees…but there’s no xylophone type music playing at high decibels through crackling speakers ruining our morning….peace.

Over the past week and a half, we’ve had 6 mornings with this music starting between 4:00am and 5:30am…it’s a little difficult to bear. While we struggle very hard to respect the traditions of the Khmers, we really can’t reconcile the fact that these traditions need to wake us up at 4:00am. Ahhh, I guess it’s all part of it, we’ll get over it when we get some sleep and a few straight days of silence! We’re planning on getting away from it all over the next week when we head down to Kep for a few days…ahhh, “Verandah” goodness, it’s a lovely hotel, with beautiful, natural looking bungalows made of wood and stones, all looking out over the sea, and what’s more they now have a swimming pool. So really we shouldn’t complain – this is our reward for living through the Khmer New Year lead up in Prey Veng!

The thing is this is just the most trying time of year in Cambodia, not only is there the ceremonies and lack of sleep but the heat is really quite unbearable. You sweat just standing there…it’s around 40 degrees every day with high humidity…and pretty much no air conditioning. Well there are only fans at the office…we do actually have an air conditioner in our bedroom at home which we do tend to use to cool down the room as we’re going to sleep but the cost of it is pretty astronomical, so we try not to use it through the night…maybe every now and then we need to buzz it in the middle of the night to try and circulate the air. The thermometer on my alarm clock states that it is around 30 to 32 degrees pretty much all the time in the bedroom which makes for sticky nights…early morning brings the only relief – plus the cold shower. While in the early mornings of November the cold shower is not welcome, in the mid day heat in April, it’s the best thing ever invented! That and the fan…the transportable fan pretty much follows us around the house, it’s pretty much unbearable without a fan right on you – much better when you’re wet too, just out of the shower – no point drying yourself – you’re dry in about 3 seconds!"

  
1. Young Men working in the April heat                                                        2. A Prey Veng sunset during the hot season

Khmer Trading sizzles in Summer! Our passion for bold and bright really comes into its own during the summer months.

The Tendance Khmere cushions will brighten up your bedroom or sunroom and breathe light into your house while the temperature soars outside. Fantastic colours for that indoor/outdoor area or day bed near the pool.

Smateria have a great range of travel bags and beach bags, perfect for that holiday in the sun or day on the beach with the kids. The net range brings colour to your wardrobe, a vivid orange will match that summer dress!

Similarly, Waterlily will bring wow with your favourite summer outfit – sea blues and sunset reds will remind us what an Australian summer of sun is all about...

It’s been an interesting week with Cambodia very much in the news due to the 21^st ASEAN Summit in Phnom Penh. All eyes were largely on President Obama as this is the first time in 40 years that an American President has visited the country. American-Cambodian relations are strained to say the least, given that the illegal carpet-bombing of Cambodia in the 70’s culminated in conditions ripe for the emergence of the Khmer Rouge and their Killing Fields. Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen, himself a former Khmer Rouge commander has ruled the country for decades with little tolerance for dissent. Human Rights Organisations report opposition leaders being jailed and killed with Hun Sen’s allies having free reign to seize land no matter what the cost.

It was said that given Obama’s purpose for visiting Cambodia was only because the ASEAN Summit was held there and not as a state visit, he did not enter into discussions about the two countries’ relationship and there was no apology for the past. Reportedly, Obama did enter into discussions behind closed doors with the Prime Minister regarding his Human Rights records and the repressive nature in which the country is run, urging for free and fair elections that are internationally monitored and where opposition parties are free to operate.

A regional free trade agreement was also high on the list of discussions and we will watch in interest to see if this will have any impact on our relationship with Cambodia’s economy through Khmer Trading’s importation of Khmer products to Australia...watch this space.

It’s always worth having a look at the Phnom Penh Post online for up to date news from Cambodia if you are interested, http://www.phnompenhpost.com

It is important to us that we are part of the creative process and can guide our suppliers towards what works and what doesn't work for our Australian customers. We recognise that all customers are different and perhaps what works in France and Italy may not necessarily be what is right for an Australian market. We are lucky that our suppliers understand this and really want us to be a part of developing each collection. The process is slightly different for each brand but the result is always the same, good quality, innovative products that suit Australian tastes.

Each year we travel to Cambodia to meet face to face with our suppliers (who really are much more like friends now) and discuss how to bring the new season's products to life. Given we are one of the only distributors in the Southern Hemisphere we sometimes have to be careful that the colours and products we choose suit the summer sun rather than a European winter! It is a termendous amount of hard work and always a whirlwind trip where you feel like sleeping for a week once back on Australian soil but well worth the effort given the results. And it's not all work and no play, we do find the time to share an Angkor beer, leek cake or bowl of guoy thieu with Flavien, Nina, Jennifer, Elisa and Christine while we're there. Of course the $10 massages and stunning hotel swimming pools and lovely smiles from the local staff don't make it half bad either!

        

It is a time to learn a lot about the Khmer psyche, as thousands turn out to prayer for the former King of Cambodia, Norodom Sihanouk who died last week from a heart attack after lengthy ill health in Beijing. I have been reading many of the articles written, particularly in the local papers, the Phnom Penh Post and the Cambodia Daily to learn more about this man and what he means to the Khmer people. What really was most powerful though was not necessarily the articles debating his strengths and weaknesses but the photos and tributes my Khmer and western friends living in Cambodia have posted on their facebook pages. Last night, Khmer people reported seeing Sihanouk's face in the moon....and thousands of people of all ages have made their pilgrimage to the Royal Palaice in the countries' capital to pay homage to their former leader who was not only King, but also the Prime Minister and the "father of Independence". It will be interesting to see whether his death will promote a more active interest in the monarchy or whether politics will become more extreme.

The perfect way to get a picture of what's happening in Cambodia right now is these amazing photos from my friend, Mel Cockroft who took these shots, first when Sihanouk's body was brought home from Beijing, now lying in wait at the Royal Palace for the next 3 months. Then the night shots that were taken the week after he was brought home as crowds gathered each night to pay their respects and prayer under a cloud of incense smoke. The uniform of white shirt and black pants or skirt is the traditional outfit of mourning for the Khmer people. Mel has been living and working in Phnom Penh for some time, starting off on the same Australian Government Volunteer program that took me to Cambodia. She is now the Technical Support Manager at Marie Stopes International and a talented budding photographer!

It’s Pchum Ben in Cambodia which equates to a Western Christmas – it’s the time when Khmer people travel back to their homelands and spend time with their families enjoying the Buddhist Holiday. It is also a time to go to the Pagoda and pray with the monks, a process which pays respect to the families’ deceased ancestors. It is a time when much importance is placed on the preparation of food, both to eat together as a family and also to offer the food to the monks. The offering of food generates “merit” that indirectly benefits the dead, you are in effect feeding the ghosts.

As a foreigner, Pchum Ben is a great time to receive some insight into Khmer families and their strong observance of tradition. There is a great mixture of traditional ceremonies and prayer time as well as party time which always involves dancing around a tree with the music at top volume and karaoke! For some, the long prayer times can lead to some discomfort – it is not easy to kneel on a wooden floor for up to an hour, and can lead to some confusion, which bowl do you scoop the rice into and how many times do you bow to the monks? I must admit, my favourite time was always the day at the Pagoda where everyone had prepared their signature dish for the monks and we were able to sit there and eat the most delicious food with the monks – well not quite with them – we were served their leftovers, a sign of respect!

 
 
1. delivering the food offerings for the monks, 2. Dividing the rice out into the monks food bowls, 3. Presenting our donations to the Pagoda in the form of a golden money tree 4. The spread of food that we sat down to eat - the monk's leftovers!

After having a lovely couple of weeks off relaxing in Bali after a hectic Trade Fair season, we’ve returned home to Spring. For those who know the Southern Highlands where Gareth and I live, you will understand what a relief this is! I am not a cold weather person and have certainly struggled with my adjustment from 35 degrees every day for the 3 years we were in Cambodia to a Winter where an average of 12 degrees each day is mild.

Spring in the Highlands means beautiful flowers and Bowral is famous for “Tulip Time” so there are stunning bulbs just starting to open. In celebrating spring, an article recently came out in the Burke’s Backyard magazine featuring Tendance Khmere cushions and I have realised that there is a real link between the bright colours of our Khmer Trading products and the spring season –  in theory we are gearing up for the time when the “colours of Cambodia” that we like to promote, can bloom...

Like Burke’s Backyard mentioned... “After your spring cleaning has worked its magic at your place, add a touch of fresh, bright colour to your lounge with this contemporary take on patchwork cushions made from silk and cotton.” They were referring to our floral range pictured below.

And of course Waterlily’s signature colour inspiration, greens with a splash of pink is built around the most beautiful flowers dotting the landscape all over Cambodia, the Waterlily – otherwise known as a lotus which has huge symbolic significance in the national religion, Buddhism. Representing spiritual enlightenment as well as immortality and resurrection, it seems a fitting homage to spring!

 

And what better product to promote in spring, especially during “Tulip Time” – our one and only tulip keyring which is the accessory to brighten up every woman’s day.

 

When you’re at the stage when you are actually looking forward to your third year at the Trade Fairs, does that mean you’re an ‘old hand’ at this gig now? We were pleased that the recent Life Instyle Show in Melbourne went off without a hitch. We are all set with packing the car and getting on the road to travel down to Melbourne now and the terror of Trade Fairs has definitely worn off.

A relaxed attitude lead us to have a smaller stand this year and although we didn’t quite have the wow factor that the Tendance Khmere bed and curtains traditionally give us, we were happy with the traffic that we did manage to impress. The best part is now we are having a lot more repeat business and see so many more familiar faces amongst the streams of people which is so much nicer. Great to have the opportunity to have a good face to face chat with our current stockists too. 

Last week we launched a new brand, Waterlily which complements Khmer Trading’s “Colours of Cambodia” with brightly coloured button jewellery. Inspired by the landscapes in Cambodia, Christine’s products certainly caught people’s eye at the Show with a lovely presentation of fun, recycled jewellery, perfect for pending spring!

While we lived in Cambodia, we were keen to take visitors to Street 240 – a beautiful street in an area known as the French quarter. Beautiful boutique stores with the trademark French architecture of terrace shopfronts with shutters. This was a shopping precinct that was guaranteed to excite tourists, unique handmade products in foreigner sizes!

We were really taken with a jewellery store called “Waterlily” – what made this shop so interesting was its unique creations that were displayed in such an inventive way. With my love of colours, I was just drawn to how the colours were blended. Discovering each product was so exciting, pulling out each drawer I’d find something new. I of course went straight to the “Blue” dresser and pulled out drawer by drawer to discover product after product all in my favourite mix of colours – although each product had a blue base, they were all unique with different blends of stunning colour combinations. To my right was the “Aqua” drawers and to my left was “Red”.

We learnt that the designer was Christine Gauthier who had been living in Cambodia since 1996. Her workshop and retail store was opened on Street 240 in 2002. Christine’s inspiration for the colours and design of her jewellery products comes from her love for Cambodian nature and landscapes. With theme colours described as Sunset, Sea, Ricefield and Waterlily it is quite obvious where the insight comes from!

In my March visit to Cambodia, I met with Christine and we begun the process of building a relationship so that Khmer Trading could be the exclusive distributors of Waterlily jewellery in Australia. Starting with a limited collection of Christine’s “Copperwire and Button” designs we are pleased to announce that stockists will have their first look at Christine’s products as we launch Waterlily in Australia at the Life Instyle Trade Show in Melbourne from the 2^nd to 5^th of August.