About Monkey Drum

Welcome to our website! You can look at a selection of our best-selling products and order online. Or, if you prefer, you can call us and do it over the phone at: 01728 604 500. ALL ITEMS ARE CARRIED AS STOCK. We will phone or email if we have any queries.

Monkey-Drum began in 1993 at Camden Market, London. It was founded by Jonathan Wells who had spent the previous six years travelling, including three years in Asia and a year at sea. It now operates out of a warehouse in Suffolk, employing four staff. We supply many schools, shops and other retailers throughout the UK as well in Europe and elsewhere.

We find unusual and beautiful things, especially musical or wooden, and then develop long term relationships with their suppliers so that we can provide our customers with a reliable quality and supply. All of our products are hand made, usually by small groups of artisans or individuals. We provide a constant demand, pay reliably, and trade in an ethical way. We also encourage our suppliers to improve their own situation by offering higher prices for improvements in quality, and in general making their product more appealing to developed markets. We are big supporters of traditionally made handicrafts and small independent businesses.

With a company of our size (ie small), there has to be a high element of trust and friendship between producer and importer. In fact, the initial contact that leads to a firm trading relationship often involves a serendipitous meeting or conversation.

We cannot guarantee where this will lead, but for our part we try and play as fairly as we can. For example, we were led to our Peruvian supplier Angel though a meeting in a mountain market in January 2000. Only having two days left to spare, we spent a long time discussing possible products and choosing a small range of musical instruments. At this time he was based in a dingy workshop with poor light. I gave him all of the cash I had spare (about $1000) and it was agreed that we would send the balance before shipment in early Spring. I have never really got to the bottom of what actually happened, but there was some kind of family calamity involving difficulties with the authorities. We finally received the goods in September. But we persisted with him, and the trade has grown each year.

When I next visited in July 2005, Angel had moved to a vastly nicer workshop near a town, where he has bought a little land. There were five people working (all of them brothers and family), a nice little kitchen. And evidence of investment was in the various machines around the place. He has never been without an order from us since we first met, and I believe that this, coupled with our reliability in paying and emphasis on service has enabled him to vastly improve his business. Angel now has another good export customer in Europe. During this second visit I took a translator with me and we persuaded Angel to do his own shipping. The shipment due in Feb 2006 will be the first he has done himself and he will gain hundreds of dollars extra each time, as well as creating further business possibilities for himself and his family.

We also import from Mexico, Canada, Ecuador, Chile, Vietnam, Thailand, Bali, Morocco, India, Nepal, Kenya, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Senegal and Ghana and the Gambia

We are a service based supplier, that is to say that the quality of service you receive is paramount. We try to pack everything beautifully and promptly, it is not always possible to guarantee immediate delivery. But mostly We are interested in environmental matters. We only use natural sustainable products. We reuse all clean packaging. We buy reused cartons from REBOXIT and only buy new for bespoke/special orders. We avoid airfreight wherever possible. One day I hope to own a warehouse so that we can insulate it and stop wasting precious heat!

Apart from this website, you can also visit our shop in Suffolk (please see click on "where to find us" and see map) 9.30 to 4.30 weekdays, or 10-5 Saturday. Please phone in advance if you are coming from a school and may need a bit of extra assistance.

If you are a retailer interested in wholesale deliveries, please phone us for a catalogue

Jonathan Wells