Love and harmony. This is what the objects should bring to your home or personal life. Love and care. This is what they use to create the objects. Well, we are only at Super U in Grand-Bay but the atmosphere of “Hand-Made Mauritius” is totally different from what you’ve seen or felt so far… Unless you have already been to the Himalayas.

Does this feeling of well-being come from the beautiful and unique objects that can be found in the little shop or is it the personality of the owner? Well, maybe a bit of both. In fact, the shop is the “result of the trip and working experiences” of Alkistis Loukides-Bestel. Of course, the trip experiences include Mauritius. Her love for her (Mauritian) husband and his country were practically simultaneous.

Two years ago, Alkistis left her native Switzerland to come to Mauritius with her – since then – husband. She used to work in the healing industry as a therapist. After working in hospitals to relieve people suffering from cancer especially, she spent a few years in the spa industry.

To acquire some experience in the healing sector, she went to Thailand to learn Thai massage. “I first went to Bangkok but what they offered me as a training was too short… After asking where I could get a real training and a whole day trekking in the Himalayas, I finally got to a monastery where the chief monk accepted to teach me the basics of Thai massage.”

This is where she also learnt a lot about healing herbs and meditation. All this is about bringing harmony and well-being in people’s lives. With her shop that opened last April, this is exactly the idea. What Hand-Made Mauritius is all about is “enhancing people’s life with products made with love and care for home and healthy living”.

But it is also about helping other people. There are a lot of hand-made products in Mauritius but so few produced locally. The aim of the shop is to promote stuff made in Mauritius. “In small villages, people do so many beautiful things at home but do not realise they could be sold and people would really appreciate them. So I’ve been all around the island from Mahebourg to Calodyne to find people doing pottery, bags, mirrors made with newspapers as well as postcards and jewellery.”

Of course, these products are all hand-made with so much care and attention that every one is unique. Each pot has its own story. Each necklace is made with so much taste.

<B>Anti-cellulite soaps</B>

The shop also helps promoting handicraft organisations such as Art Academy; this helps support adults with problems. Some items brought from Nepal or Tibet were made by women organisations helping battered or illiterate women. The little shop is a way of helping people – those I buy the products from and those whom I sell them to.

The majority of the products coming from the Himalayas is about healing and well-being. Women will particularly appreciate the anti-cellulite soaps made with grapefruit (Alkistis is adamant that it works!) or the hypoallergenic soaps for babies (in the lovely shape of a bear cub) made with honey. Of course, all products – even toothpaste or incense – do not contain any chemicals and are made from natural plants.

Objects for meditation also constitute a great part of the shop. The wind wells for instance are there to bring energy where there is a lack of dynamism. You just place them somewhere in your home where you think there is a lack of energy and the sound the bell makes with the wind brings more energy to the place. It will chase stagnant energy.

The list of products is too long… The best thing would be to go there. Apart from visiting a nice shop, the advice of Alkistis to prevent bags under the eyes or to facilitate digestion will most probably convince you. She asserts it: “Everyone who comes to the shop once comes back…” A sign that there is a good atmosphere full of positive energy there!