Monthly Archives: January 2013

Arastan is hiring!

By Mike | Published: 31 January 2013

Are you passionate about crafts, design, textile, history and travel? Arastan is hiring! We are looking for a talented Content Writer cum Product Research Associate to join our small but growing business full-time. The role encompasses all content as well as product research and supplier management to support sourcing exciting new products. Effectively the work entails handling all aspects of content related to Arastan, that is both online and offline businesses. In particular this would include articles about the crafts we sell and the people/cultures/places behind them, product and category descriptions for the online store, press releases, exhibition material, marketing collateral etc.

If you have a desire to work in this field, and have a background in content writing, communication or design, ideally with some experience of either marketing, social media, SEO, blogging, graphic design or photography, then you could be an ideal fit for the job. The role is Bangalore-based …

Posted in Creating Arastan | Tagged , | Comments closed

Reflections on 2012 – The Negatives!

By Nisha | Published: 3 January 2013
Thank You Couriers and Octroi Inspectors

So there were a lot of good things to look back on from 2012, but it wasn’t all rosy…

Suppliers

Whilst artisans have been great to work with I have also had my share of disappointments, such as the Moroccan supplier who took my upfront payment and failed to deliver a third of the goods. In India we have found a few gems (like the brass inlay work) but have had to work through many potential suppliers who may produce great stuff but have been unreliable to work with for various reasons, including doubling the cost to me when I tried to repeat order, or complaining that I am being unreasonable when I reject their badly damaged goods through insufficient packaging. We ensure that we select only high-quality products for Arastan, and therefore demand attention to detail and quality work from our suppliers, and many do not fit the grade!

…

Posted in Creating Arastan | Tagged , | Comments closed

Reflections on 2012

By Nisha | Published: 2 January 2013
Tibetan Katagami Carpet

As I sit on a beach in Sri Lanka enjoying a well overdue holiday – though Mike claims otherwise, my travels for Arastan are hard work and not holiday! – I thought it worth reflecting on the year gone by for Arastan. (I am a bit distracted by the beautiful woven reed mats available here, but must stop – this is supposed to be a family holiday and not another sourcing trip!)

2012 was a good year for Arastan. There have been some great moments and I’ve picked a few to reflect on.

Products

I am sure there is no end to the wealth of high-quality unique products that can be sourced for Arastan. A few of my particular favourites that I came across this year were the beautifully woven Tibetan rugs from Sikkim and the Iroqi embroidery from Shakrisabz. It was also an enjoyable foray into fabricating some of our own, combining …

Posted in Creating Arastan | Comments closed

  • Welcome to Arastan

    Arastan was an online store that curated rare and handpicked treasures from exotic bazaars along the ancient silk route. Unfortunately we ceased trading in early 2014.

    You can read about the reasons for closure.

    You can still browse some of the products we used to have via the category links above, although none of these are available for purchase.

    Relive our travels and stories by browsing our articles and archives from the menus below.

  • Browse all our articles

  • Browse our archives

© arastan 2011

css.php