Susi Johnston Bali Blog

I started this blog to weave together my four main passions:

• Southeast Asian arts and antiquities;
• Domestic architecture, interiors and design;
• Indonesian textiles;
• and Bali.

These diverse topics are somehow woven together in my daily life, and in my work. So I believe they can be woven together here in a meaningful way as well.

“Unity in diversity” is the national motto of Indonesia, where I live. At this moment in time it seems thematic, the world over. We are experiencing greater diversity in our lives, yet we are evolving an ability to integrate the disparate aspects of culture, experience and information that we encounter. This, I suppose, is my way of trying to describe the the next step of human evolution.

Like many people who enthusiastically engage in the game of life, my background is one of complexity and apparent contradiction. Yet there is a unity to it, and a certain integrity, I hope.

I grew up near Seattle, and have lived in New York, Scotland, London, and now Bali. I have a master’s degree in Art History from the University of St Andrews, and I’ve also studied architecture, design, writing, journalism and communications. My dissertation was on Tibetan architecture, and I’ve travelled a fair bit in Asia since I first arrived on this continent to do my research in Tibet. Among other things, I’ve been an ocean adventure kayaker, a punk, a marketing director, a New York underground clubber, a secretary, an author, and even a wife (twice).

I’ve gone to and fro between the orthodox and the esoteric, and hope to continue to do so. For the past fourteen years I’ve lived in Bali, where my Italian partner, Bruno Piazza and I have a small cluster of enterprises that we operate more for the sheer pleasure of manifesting creativity, than for manifesting money.

Our focus is on the traditional and ancient arts of Southeast Asia. Our inventory of objects is large and growing, and includes significant numbers of textiles, ornaments, and weapons. I also run a specialist sourcing company, serving high-end interior designers, architects, homeowners and collectors. And I write articles and books, and now this blog. I hope you enjoy it.