Incense in The Wind: Sai Handicrafts

Wednesday, 3 January 2024

Sai Handicrafts

Back in October 2015 I was in Oxford to take part in the Oxford Half Marathon, and while wandering through the market the day before the race I was attracted to some incense being burned on one of the stalls. It was a Sai Handicrafts Gold Sandal, and I bought it and enjoyed it, then some time later burned it again, and thought I'd find out a bit more about Sai Handicrafts. It is a UK based import company dealing in ethnic Indian goods, including incense which they tell me they make themselves. The company was founded in 2004 by Pinkesh and Bindu Parikh as a stall on Camden Market; in 2015 they left Camden Market, preferring to travel around the country selling at festivals. They have now settled in Hitchin Market.

Sai Handicrafts stall at Hitchin Market

I caught up with Pinkesh at Hitchin Market because I'd got in touch with him via email to chat about where the incense came from, and he said the incense was made by himself in Hitchin. That information stunned me it seemed to me that this was quality incense made in India. To have commercially available incense made in the UK would be unusual - possibly unique, so I was very interested in learning more. Other UK based incense traders, selling incense under their own brand, had always bought the incense in bulk in India, and packed it here in the UK. I was curious as to why he had decided to make incense himself, and how that was working out.

Pinkesh at his market stall in Hitchin

I was curious as to the set up. Was his wife making it at home? Did she learn to roll incense in India, and they brought the skills with them back to the UK? What ingredients was he using? When I started talking about him making the incense he was keen to confirm he did, but he deflected further questions. I have to confess that I became uncertain about the incense being made in the UK after speaking with Pinkesh. We have to assume good faith, but as Pinkesh was reluctant to go into details, there is no evidence and no confirmation. And that has to be balanced against my long experience now of traders saying they make incense themselves but providing no evidence, and then it becomes clear that the incense they sell is made by someone else, such as Haridas Madhavdas Sugandhi (HMS) or whoever supplies Vrindavan Bazaar (there is a similarity). So at this stage the story is that Pinkesh of Sai Handicrafts says the incense is made in the UK, but without more proof, I cannot in all honesty confirm that, so (with reluctance and a heavy heart, because I would love there to be a genuine UK based artisanal incense house) I will have to continue to list Sai Handicraft as a trader.

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*= Review over 5 years old so may not be reliable