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Furniture

Furniture making is not really a part of the Balinese artistic repertoire. Today, repro furniture is the one of the fastest-growing industries on the island. Because of tourist demand and the large number of tourists concentrated on Bali, the island has become a frenetic furniture emporium. Agents comb the countryside and villages of Java looking for unusual pieces, buying them up for a song.

The furniture is often made of jati (teak) and usually is in decrepit shape. Once fully restored in Bali, the same pieces sell for as much as 10 times the original price in the antique shops of Batubulan, Legian, and Kerobokan.

Still, the prices for these beautiful, unique, and authentic antiques are a fraction of what they would cost in the West. But the supply is not inexhaustible and it's going fast.

Presently as many as 100 containers a month leave Bali and Java for the living rooms of Milan, Stockholm, and San Francisco (as many as 500 containers a month of repro-furniture). Some types of furniture have disappeared altogether.

Don't even bother looking for Dutch-Chinese (peranakan) furniture with traces of original pigment. Indonesia was cleaned out of these pieces decades ago. Choose your piece very carefully, as there's a lot of junk out there and prices for the good stuff varies considerably.

Beware of parts of the piece which are not original and be sure the add-ons match properly. Make sure, for example, that the dealer doesn't replace old teak with cheap, green wood, then use a dark stain so that you can't discern the difference until it's too late.

Termites will devour the cheap wood (they won't go near the old teak) and the piece will crack and split once it's been shipped to a cold temperate climate.

Also examine the finishes the dealer uses; most often they slap on dark, unevenly applied shellac which makes a real antique look like a piece of repro-rubbish. If you like the design, buy it plain and finish it yourself or hire a Balinese carpenter and supervise the work.

Most dealers don't bargain because they can easily get the prices they ask. Wait until you see something you like and (if reasonable) pay the price asked-quickly.