What Dry Heat Does to Balinese Wood

Bali is humid. Not a little — genuinely humid, all year round. Wood there grows and is crafted in an environment where the air is almost thick enough to cut. Then that same wood spends weeks in a shipping container, crosses the equator, and ends up in a living room in Madrid or Lisbon with the heating on. That's not a small change. And it's something we think about a great deal before buying any piece.

The problem nobody talks about

When wood moves from a very humid climate to a very dry one, it contracts. That's physics, not a manufacturing defect. If that contraction happens suddenly, cracks appear — small ones at first, sometimes more visible later on. Not in every piece, and not every time, but it happens often enough that we take it seriously.

The same goes for rattan or water hyacinth weaving: fibres that have a natural flexibility in Bali can become stiffer and more brittle if the air at home stays very dry for months on end. It's not dramatic, but it's worth understanding before it catches you off guard.

How we look at it in Bali

When we visit the workshops, one of the things we pay close attention to is how the wood is dried before it's worked. Slow drying, in the shade, without forcing the process with artificial heat, brings the wood to a more stable state. It guarantees nothing — nature guarantees nothing — but it greatly reduces the risk of the piece moving too much afterwards.

We also look at the thickness of the pieces and how they've been finished. A figure carved from solid wood with a good oil finish, for example, handles the change in climate far better than a thin piece with a surface varnish. These details aren't always visible at first glance, but they make a real difference in the long run.

What you can do at home

Central heating dries out the air considerably. In winter, a humidifier placed near wooden or woven pieces does more than you might expect. You don't need anything fancy: even a bowl of water next to a radiator helps. And if you have a solid wood piece, a little olive oil or linseed oil applied with a cloth a couple of times a year keeps it hydrated and looking its best.

What we don't recommend is placing pieces directly on top of a radiator or in the path of a hot air vent. That's too much for any natural material, no matter how well it's been crafted. A carved plate on a shelf, well away from a direct heat source, will last for years without any trouble.

When a shipment arrives and we take a look

Every time we receive a new shipment, we go through the pieces with more care than you might imagine. We look for cracks, check that the weaving is intact, and see how the more delicate pieces have travelled. Sometimes something arrives that isn't up to standard and doesn't go on sale. That costs us money, but there's no other way to do it.

It's also why we don't haggle with the artisans over price. If we start pushing them down, the first things to suffer are the drying time, the quality of the wood, and the final finish. We'd rather pay what something is worth and receive something that truly lasts.

A living material in your home

Wood moves. Rattan breathes. Water hyacinth adapts. That's precisely what makes these materials different from anything mass-produced. A hand-carved board that develops its own patina over the years isn't a piece that has worn out — it's a piece that has lived alongside you.

That's how we see it, and we think you do too. You just need to give these pieces a little attention, the way you would with anything worth having at home. Not much: a quick look every now and then, a bit of moisture in winter, and some oil if the wood is thirsty. Time takes care of the rest.

That's what we wanted to share with you this week. If you have any questions about caring for a particular piece, feel free to get in touch — we're always happy to help. And if you're curious to learn more about where all of this comes from, our website has a little more about our journey.