FEATURES • BRANDS
Bali Sama Sama:
Giving New Value to
What Was Left
Behind
Words & Photography by The Punch
Bali has always known how to work with what’s at hand. Long before sustainability became a talking point, the island was already practicing it, through ritual, craft, and quiet ingenuity. Bali Sama Sama sits firmly in that tradition, not as a revivalist gesture, but as a living, working example of how design, livelihood, and environmental care can move together.
Founded in 2021, Bali Sama Sama is a Bali-based creative enterprise producing hand-blown glassware and candles with a clear social purpose. From the beginning, it was never about creating a lifestyle brand for the sake of it. The intention was more pragmatic, and more ambitious: to build something on the island that could support local skills, generate meaningful work, and open pathways beyond Bali’s dependence on tourism alone.
TWO PATHS, ONE SHARED DIRECTION
The brand grew from a meeting of complementary journeys. Julie, who had spent her career in Australia working in sales and brand representation, had long felt the pull to create something of her own. After decades of travelling to Bali and eventually making a home on the island, she became increasingly aware of a gap, not in aesthetics, but in opportunity. Bali was full of talent, yet much of the island’s economy remained tied to imported goods and seasonal tourism.
Mischa arrived in Bali from the Netherlands with a different but aligned drive. After years on the island and experience working closely with Indonesian suppliers, she wanted to give back in a way that was tangible and fair. Natural materials, chemical-free processes, and genuine collaboration with local communities were non-negotiables. When their paths crossed, the idea for Bali Sama Sama began to take shape. From the very first sample, both founders were involved, building the brand slowly and deliberately, testing, refining, and learning as they went.
Beginning with candles, guided by restraint
The starting point was candles, chosen not for trend, but for scale and potential impact. Julie understood how vast the candle market was, and how quickly demand for cleaner products was growing. What frustrated her was how little transparency existed around ingredients. Many candles relied heavily on synthetic fragrances designed to project scent, often without consumers realizing what they were breathing in.
Bali Sama Sama took a different approach. The candles would be plant-based, free from unnecessary additives, and scented exclusively with pure essential oils grown in Indonesia. That decision immediately imposed limits. Oils commonly used in perfumery, lavender, bergamot, and others sourced from Europe, were off the table. What remained were around fifteen locally grown options.
Rather than seeing this as a restriction, the founders embraced it. The resulting blends smelled unmistakably of Bali: frangipani, cempaka, and other florals deeply familiar to the island. The scents were not designed to overpower a space, but to sit quietly within it.
When the vessel became the focus
From the outset, the candle’s container mattered as much as what went inside it. The glass needed to be something worth keeping, refilling, or repurposing, not something destined for landfill once the wick burned out. As experimentation continued at a small glass workshop in Gianyar, something shifted. Shapes emerged that didn’t suit candles at all. Larger forms, unexpected proportions, colors that felt more sculptural than functional. Slowly, the question surfaced: was Bali Sama Sama a candle company, or something else?
The answer took time. For nearly three years, the team invested heavily in research and development, testing durability, refining forms, sourcing packaging, and learning what handmade glass could and couldn’t do. It wasn’t until early 2023 that the first standalone glass pieces were sold. By then, the decision was clear. Bali Sama Sama was a glass company that also made candles.
Discovering the story inside the material
The commitment to recycled glass came not from a grand environmental plan, but from direct exposure. While exploring glass production, the founders were confronted with the sheer volume of discarded bottles. The realization followed naturally: bringing new raw glass into the island made no sense when so much already existed as waste.
Using recycled glass became a non-negotiable. Bottles collected from across Gianyar and surrounding areas are melted down and hand-blown into new forms. Colors are dictated by what’s available, amber, green, clear, creating natural variation from batch to batch. Bali Sama Sama deliberately chose not to insert itself into existing collection systems. Local networks already existed, with individuals earning income by gathering and selling glass. Disrupting that balance wasn’t the goal. Instead, the brand focused on transformation, turning discarded material into high-quality objects that could command respect and value.
Craft that requires people, not machines
Inside the workshop, production remains resolutely hands-on. Furnaces, rods, and simple tools dominate the space. Techniques passed down over decades are still in use, taught by hand, refined through repetition. Automation has no role here. This choice has economic consequences, in the best sense. Handmade production requires more people. More time. More care. It creates sustained employment rather than replacing labor with speed.
Each piece carries small variations, slight differences in thickness, the occasional air bubble. These details, once seen as flaws, have become points of connection for clients. Chefs and hospitality professionals recognize them as markers of authenticity, proof that what they’re holding was shaped by a person, not a mold. Mistakes, too, are part of the process. Some of Bali Sama Sama’s most successful designs began as errors, proportions that didn’t match the original brief, sizes that felt wrong on paper but perfect in hand. Rather than discarding these outcomes, the team learned to follow them, adjusting and refining until something unexpected emerged.
A different proposition for hospitality
Today, Bali Sama Sama works primarily with hotels, spas, and restaurants, supplying glassware, spa pieces, vases, lighting, and bespoke commissions. The appeal goes beyond aesthetics. For hospitality venues, choosing locally made, upcycled glassware allows them to share a deeper story with guests. A glass once discarded on the island, reshaped by Balinese artisans, becomes part of the dining or wellness experience. It connects environmental responsibility with local livelihoods in a way that feels tangible, not performative.
Orders don’t need to be large. Small runs and exclusive designs are welcomed. For Bali Sama Sama, every order supports the same chain of people, from collectors to artisans to their extended families.
Slow glass, by choice
Working with recycled, hand-blown glass comes with constraints. Not every color can be mixed. Not every size is possible. Production takes time. Expectations need managing. The brand is comfortable with that. Clients who understand the value of process, who respect the rhythm of handmade production, tend to be the ones Bali Sama Sama works with best. Those seeking speed, scale, or absolute uniformity are often gently turned away. The approach mirrors slow fashion, applied to glass.
A future built on reciprocity
Looking ahead, Bali Sama Sama’s focus remains on the island. The ambition is to become the supplier of choice for glassware across Bali’s hospitality sector, a natural first call when venues need to reorder or rethink their spaces. There are long-term dreams of taking the brand beyond Bali, but expansion is not the immediate priority. Contribution is.
The name Bali Sama Sama was chosen deliberately. It reflects a belief in reciprocity, that what is created with care returns value to many. For the founders, success is not measured by visibility, but by the quiet accumulation of impact: families supported, skills preserved, waste transformed into something worth keeping. In a place often defined by consumption, Bali Sama Sama offers a quieter proposition. One where beauty, responsibility, and art move together.
EXPLORE THE PUNCH