This is where our jewelry comes from.
A David Lynch Spaghetti Western
A friend who worked at a partner organization once described the capital city of Xieng Khouang as the set of a "David Lynch spaghetti Western". In dry season, you expect tumble weeds to roll down the street along with the Toyota HiLux pickup trucks and the puttering motorbikes. The capital town is magically set in a valley surrounded by mountains with misty sunrises and a surrealist mix of noodle shops, an Indian restaurant, Chinese eateries, and an Irish pub, each below or in front of the apartment of the owner. At night, you'll find a mix of locals, intrepid travelers willing to go off the beaten track, aid workers, US military Mortuary Affairs Specialists on remains recovery missions, and of course UXO deminers.Talk about surrealist. Talk about a temporal continuum and the confluence of these people and what their presence represent across the past, present and future. I've worked alongside, had heated debates with, and sipped a beer with each type of person. Those stories and learnings are for another day.
That makes sense to me because I view you as someone who lives on the temporal continuum - the past, present, and future.
- NPR's Rachel Martin of Wild Card podcast responding to David Lynch's answer to when something happened that he knew would happen before it did
There exists an incredible warmth and happiness despite the fact of contending with bomb contaminated land. And as for humor, not only an inherited quality, but at the risk of generalization, in Laos it is also - almost - cultural. It is cultivated as early as a nickname emerges - if you're small you may be known as "Noy" or fat you are likely known as "Tuy". And if you start fat as a child and end skinny, well that's even more fun.
The provenance of each piece of our jewelry is tied to these people and this place. There is so much more to Laos than the tragedy of 80 million UXO. Most certainly, the resilience of our artisan partners comes from the humor and happiness that are within.
#loveisthebomb
The way to stop suffering is to exchange the suffering for happiness. Where is this happiness? It's within, deep deep within every human being is this unbounded ocean of consciousness. That field of consciousness has qualities and one of those qualities is bliss. Unbounded happiness. Happy people do not suffer... The secret [to maintaining happiness within] is to get more and more consciousness.
- David Lynch
On the benefits of meditation that led to "happiness within" that he says has "saved me".