Product copy from a web venture in development, 1998
Description of Product Line:
We intend to offer a spectrum of products from the affordable and funky, like T-shirts and stationery items to pricier items like clothing, jewelry and home furnishings based on more regal traditions and of finer quality materials, including original art. All will sport cool, informative labeling which places them in the proper Cool Arts historical context, making them perfect for gift giving. No explanations needed!
We envision Cool Arts South Sea products as intelligent and hip travel mementoes, ideal for all visitors to this region, whether real or of the armchair variety! Our products will not be typical tourist items, the things that are easy to find in this part of the world but dreadful to own and use, like those crudely decorated sarongs tied in inverted nooses around the necks of hotel lobby mannequins; like plastic keychains with scorpions imbedded in them; like woven and varnished tea trays. This kind of merchandise is already available, as are more traditional handicrafts made in villages all over Southeast Asia. We mean to provide an alternative to both these souvenir and gift options: by designing our own products; by sourcing appropriately themed products from other companies; and for gathering and putting our value-added spin on any pre-existing items which happen to catch our fancy. Whatever we chose to offer, from the authentic to the fabricated, be assured Cool Arts South Sea products will be accessible and fun while giving you the distinct impression you're somewhere exotic, in the middle of it all.
For instance, our clothes will be geared to individuals interested in traditional outfits, the kind you might see the locals wearing in Vietnam, Burma and Malaysia but not know where to find, or modified pan-Asian outfits which can make the transition into your life without excessive drama -- at least emotionally. That is, you'll be dramatic but you won't feel strange.
FABULOUS SILKS Just an example of the local treasures awaiting your hot little hands: these elegant and wildly-designed, one-of-a-kind, batiked brocaded silks lend themselves not only to the traditional and hybrid Malay women's jacket-and-sarong sets known as the kebaya, but also translate auspiciously into luscious western outfits. Although such silks are often glimpsed worn casually, they remain unfailingly formal -- the dress shirts for men constitute a high-style variation on the national dress.