good dresses

Often associated with Lakshmi, Sri is a Hindu goddess of divine beauty who is believed to bring wealth and good fortune. Balinese artisan Wayan Nuliati pays homage to Sri with this sculpture, which is lovingly hand-carved of suar wood to capture every minute detail. Sri is captured in a kneeling pose as she performs an elegant dance.

Inspired by a thousand-year-old Tibetan tradition, artisans in Indonesia design this karma counter for the Pertiwi Collection. For each good deed you do, place a piece of white sandstone in the center of the dark brown sono wood holder. For each bad deed you do, place a grey pebble. At the end of the day, you will be able to compare the number of good deeds with the number of bad deeds and decide how to improve your karma.

Seated in a cross-legged position, Buddha meditates, completely at peace. Indonesian artisan Wayan Rendah creates this depiction of Buddha, which he carefully carves by hand from suar wood with a beautiful natural grain. The attention to detail lavished over Buddha's hair and flowing clothes is simply stunning.

Facing each other, Sita proves her chastity to her husband surrounded by fire and a lotus flower, symbol of their divinity. Nyoman Indrawati Subrata of the Subrata Family details the monarchs with mesmerizing artistry as he carves the wall panel from crocodile wood. She finds inspiration in a passage from the Ramayana that tells how Rama begins to doubt Sita's loyalty after he has rescued her from the evil king. A loving wife, Sita offers to be set on fire to prove her innocence. Rama accepts and watches how, after the fire is consumed, Sita walks away unscathed, thus proving her love to him.

The artisan carries on the extraordinary art work of her late father, Nyoman Subrata.

In Balinese culture, Tri Kaya Parisudha is a philosophy that promotes positive thoughts, words and deeds, composed by three purified actions known as Manacika, Wacika and Kayika. Artisans from the Subrata Family in Indonesia carve and paint by hand a compelling suar wood sculpture of a man practicing Manacika and looking to achieve harmony and peace in life by the power of positive thinking.

"Positive thinking helps people do right and speak the truth. Positive and right thinking are the way to a harmonious life. With right and positive thinking, our behavior will be good and positive, including with our words. If all of creation thinks positively and does right, the world will be peaceful and not have more war, violence, or conflict, and so we will all prosper," say the artisans.