Incense in The Wind: Ancient Wisdom

Saturday 30 January 2016

Ancient Wisdom

Ancient Wisdom are a UK distributor of gift ware and incense, based in Sheffield. They import incense from Thailand - often made by Balarama - and sell under their own name, or the brand name Dawn Of Time, or as wholesale bulk lots which are then sold on under names such as Ashley's Workshop. They also distribute Satya and Aargee products.

When I first encountered their products, it was bargain basement unbranded stuff from Vietnam and Thailand - aimed at a undiscriminating audience. I grew cautious about buying anything that they sold under their own brands because my experiences tended to be of faded generic scents and crude organic core material, which I didn't enjoy; although, their foil-wrapped Red Dragon Incense I found quite enjoyable. They are, as of 2018, working with Mahendra Perfumery Works of Bangalore, whose everyday perfume-dipped charcoal sticks are quite decent, to produce a range under the name Freedom.

The Ancient Wisdom warehouse
in Sheffield on fire in July 2020

The owner, David Hardy, sends regular emails to his customers about his travels around Asia buying stock. They are friendly and informative emails. He was out in Bali when Covid-19 brought flights to a halt, and he had to stay there for the duration. He arranged help for people in the area caught out by Covid-19. This week - start of July 2020, he has written to say he is coming back to the UK because one of his warehouses in Sheffield has burned down. As part of his email he says: "The stock will need replacing so all those family businesses in India, Indonesia and China are going to get a welcome boost at a time they really need it. " What a really good person he is.