Objects of 'joy': Love of India defines mission for Leverett importer
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LEVERETT - Adam Bauer and a couple of helpers are assembling a puzzle on the lawn of his Leverett home on a recent Tuesday. They heft long pieces of a rich, dark wood from under a tented area, lay them out and consider them, pondering how they fit together.
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Bauer owns Dharma Boutique, a mostly online store that sells new and vintage goods from India and Afghanistan. He traveled to those countries in 2008 and returned to India this spring on a buying spree for his store. He was accompanied by Sara Karl, his companion and business associate who also is a videographer. While there, Bauer bought enough furniture, clothing, musical instruments, statues, jewelry and other devotional items to filled a huge container. Describing its size, he said its contents could furnish a home. He valued the contents at over $150,000 retail.
The container arrived at his sprawling home on Jackson Hill Road, a mile up a winding dirt road, two weeks ago, and friends and neighbors pitched in to help unload the goods.
Karl's role on the trip, in addition to lobbying for the "bags, bangles and silky beautiful things" she loves, was to document the experience "to express what the power of video can do in terms of storytelling. It's about, 'this (candle) isn't made by a robot or children in sweatshops. It's made by women to better their lives.'"
Through posting the blogs and videos online, Karl, 42, and Bauer, 44, aim to offer potential buyers a more meaningful connection to their products, and a glimpse of a complex culture she and Bauer have embraced.
The four intricately carved teak pieces lay on the lawn, three of them perpendicular to the fourth. Bauer and a friend, Doug Donnell, are assembling them by a number system established overseas. "I've got a 1 here," Donnell says. "Anybody got a 1?" And, "Here's a 2. You got a 2?"
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Bauer founded Dharma Boutique in 2005, as a business enterprise and as a way to stay connected to his spiritual homeland, India. He dates his love of that country to his youth, and to a book he read that resonated, "Autobiography of a Yogi," by Paramahansa Yogananda. He practices a branch of yoga called bhakti, which means "devotion." On this day he is wearing a string of devotional beads, carved from tulsi wood. He wears them, he said, as "a reminder of the divine."
He built connections to India partly through his former employer, ABC Home in New York City, and forged enough contacts to set up a buying trip for his store. Karl joined him for part of the 2009 adventure. In preparation, Bauer let his facial hair grow. "I didn't want to be the only one in the country with incredibly white cheeks," he said. Karl, with her blond hair, lively personality and inquisitive video camera, found it harder to blend in with the women. In Afghanistan, she kept her head covered and shot video "on the sly."
"I was nervous, but I did it anyway," she said. In India, she felt free to shoot at will. "People would see the camera and they'd all stop working and smile."
They traveled to various regions, working 14-hour days in 100-degree heat, stopping both at big warehouses and small establishments, one a women's co-op in Jaipur where Bauer bought fragrant beeswax candles. Before any business was done, Bauer usually would converse with proprietors about things practical and spiritual, and perhaps have lunch, gestures of warmth and civility he and Karl said were emblematic of people there.
He described the atmosphere at one famous temple, where thousands gathered every day to glimpse a statue of the deity. "It's hanging around with nice people, in a devotionally inspired environment where the kind, giving, generous nature of the faith allows people's better nature to come to the surface," he said.
He also did business with a special woman named Mrs. Sharma. "She must be 100," Karl said. "She weighs 80 pounds, has no teeth. She loves Adam." He enlisted her to make coats fashioned from vintage fabric, clothes out of old saris, and, Karl's favorite, bags.
Business blended with an overview of life in India and Afghanistan that they found both breathtaking and heartbreaking.
"The poverty was stultifying," Bauer said. "You'd see a family of eight living in these 10-by-10 things, next to a highway, 2-year-olds squatting and wiping themselves with their hand. What to do except weep for the level of privilege and opportunity we have."
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Back in Leverett, Bauer recalled his reaction when he first saw his teak treasure in a warehouse in India. "I said, 'it's too big, it's too crazy, it's too expensive.' I said, 'it's ridiculous, I'm out of my mind, let's get it.'"
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In his barn in Leverett, bubble-wrapped boxes are piled in the barn, ready to be unloaded, have the coding checked, and priced. Under one bubble-wrapped box Karl opened was an additional wrapping, of silk fabric.
"Look at that," she said. "It means nothing to them to wrap a box with this."
Upstairs in the farmhouse, a couple of display rooms hold sale items for occasional visitors: devotional art in old picture frames, statues, heavy, colorful quilts, textiles, and clothes, some made by Mrs. Sharma.
Downstairs, an ancient wrought-iron rail leans against one wall in a walkway full of furniture, including a teak chest with inlaid devotional figures. Surveying his treasures, Bauer said, "It's just a playground of joy."
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The structure is complete: a set of hand-carved pillars and arches from a Rajasthan mansion in India. Bauer called the homes "havelis. Beautiful dwellings with fantastic architectural design to make your jaw drop." Asked who might buy the piece, priced at $4,500, he said, "Someone who loves Indian antique pieces who wants to create a sacred place."
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Bauer said he is committed to supporting fair trade, taking 3 percent off the top of his gross sales to support charities in India and Afghanistan. Two in Afghanistan he favors are: www.womenofhopeproject.org and www.cureinternational.org.
To visit the Leverett store, contact Bauer at 413-367-2442. The Web site is www.dharmaboutique.com.