A Little History of Uluwatu

Understanding the range of business requires a little history first.

In 1988 I sold my interest in an Indonesian wood products company and moved from California to Bali to buy a nearly defunct women’s beach wear manufacturing business.

My wife, Made Jati Donnelly, had been involved in the business on a salary before our marriage in 1985. She had left the business, but after several years in California she was homesick and wanted to return to Bali. I agreed, but we were both surprised to find the business, formally in her name, was in crisis and facing bankruptcy. I liquidated my shares in a California company I had helped found and we bought Uluwatu.

The main product – brightly colored embroidered clothing – was a fad that had run its course. The original export markets for the product had dried up. But I felt the company could be successful if we could develop a new market for a re-imagined product.

The answer was to reposition the image and convert the product from a cheap Pier One type export into a luxury tourist brand. Analyzing the changing Bali tourist market led me to a solution emphasizing the traditional, handmade and uniquely Balinese features of the lace.