Sukawati Village
Good at Bargaining? Then Come to Sukawati Art Market

Gianyar Regency is renowned as the repository of arts in Bali. Countless creative works and modification of art works are made in Gianyar. That’s why Gianyar region is considered to be one of Bali’s art city backbones.

In Gianyar, many of the villages engage in the arts. One of these is Sukawati Village famous for having the biggest art market in Bali. Here, several kinds of innovative and creative art-craft products can be found.
Sukawati Village is some 25 km from the Ngurah Rai Airport and can be reached within 35 minutes. Sukawati is both an art market and a morning market. Visitors to the Sukawati morning market should come before 7:00 am. It closes at 11 am. Meanwhile, it’s advisable to come to the art market between 8:00 am and 5:00 pm.
At the morning market of Sukawati various kinds of handicraft products, still in their rough state, are commonly sold. In other words, if buyers would like to re-sell such handicrafts, they would then carry out the finishing touches such as smoothing them with sandpaper or setting in frames and so forth. Certainly, the prices are very cheap because the buyers are usually the vendors who will re-sell these handicrafts.
This market is situated at Gelulung Hamlet, Sukawati, or west of the Sukawati art market. It is closed at 11.00 am, peak hour being between 7:00 and 8:00 am. The art dealers, both locals and foreigners, habitually make transactions at this morning market. They take advantage of the opportunity to gain a cheaper price from the sellers who have generally obtained those products personally from the artists.
Activity like this has taken place for so long in which most handicrafts on offer are wooden effigies of various kinds and models. There are elephant statues, ganesh (an elephant-headed deity) statues, birds and other animals. Here wood carving in the form of assorted fruits and flowers, etc. can also be found.
The Sukawati art market is located in the east of Sukawati morning market. The handicraft products on offer have more variations than that offered at the morning market. By and large, the handicrafts sold here are normally the ones that are readyto use. It means they have been finished off completely. In addition, there are various kinds of garment products such as beach shirts, sarong, T-shirts and so on. It’s the right place to look for other products too, such as wooden effigy, silver works, paintings or a variety of Balinese dance costumes. Moreover, the market also offers Balinese masks, angklung gamelan instruments and many more.
All art products on offer here can be bargained for according to one’s purchasing power. On that account, one must be good at bargaining before making the transaction. Then a relatively cheap purchase price for fine quality products will be reached.
Visitors to this Sukawati art market mostly consist of local tourists from Java and other provinces in Indonesia. They come to search out cheap souvenirs for their family or relatives. However, some of them also come for business purposes. There are only a few foreign tourists who visit this market, probably because the products offered are not at fixed price. In most cases, the vendors set high price for the first bargaining and sometimes the goods will be released at one third of the original price. Why not be adventurous and try your hand at bargaining. Just come to Sukawati art market!(BTN/Budiarta)

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