In early 1968, John and Wendy Borthwick packed two backpacks, grabbed a couple of hundred dollars, and set out on the epic hippie trail journey which then stretched overland from Australia to London. Their belongings: a flimsy air mattress, some water purifying tablets, two free-spirited hearts, and a belief in luck ~ that was enough. They hitchhiked up the east coast of Australia, crossed by semi trailer carrying chocolate paddlepops to Darwin, caught a light plane to East Timor, slept in abandoned houses and simple losmens, bumped across mountains by jeep, enjoyed a brief sojourn in Denpasar Bali, slept in fishing huts built out above the waters of a lagoon, spent an unforgettable night on a junk sailing across the moonlit sea to Singapore.
Then hitch hiking again up through Malaya: nights spent on the floors of Buddhist monasteries, on railway station benches,in cheap hotels. Bangkok and the surreal world of the Thai Son Greet Hotel, delicious street food, stifling heat and then the newly formed Thai Airways flight to India with a stopover in Burma. All passengers spent the night on a wooden floor in a schoolhouse strictly government supervised then re board next morning after a few glimpses of the foggy, forbidden world of Communist Rangoon. Then came Calcutta. Steamy, overwhelming, terrifyingly alive. Brahmin bulls threading their way through the traffic, noseless lepers begging, naked starving women and children a nightmare vision on Howrah Railway Station, dozens of men and boys clinging to the outside of the trains . An unimaginable world of colour and chaos. Impossible to process quickly, impossible to ever forget. Unknown to them at the time, a new love was born.
Back in Sydney, a friend introduced them to the teachings of Meher Baba ~ a spiritual master who had lived in the very India they had just fallen in love with. Meher Baba became a lifelong spiritual leader and the cornerstone of the beliefs and values of Tree of Life today.
In 1969, John and Wendy joined a handcrafts collective. John made fringed leather moccasins and Roman sandals by hand. Wendy sewed calico dresses and strung beads. Life rolled on through babies and businesses, as it does, but the thread back to India never broke.
In the early 1990s, the first Tree of Lifestore opened in Balmain, Sydney. The idea was simple: a home for free spirits.
No age limit. No dress code. No rules about who belonged.
Over nearly 40 years, the relationships with our Indian makers and artisans grew into something that doesn't quite fit the word 'supplier.' Tree of Life is family-run ~ and so are the businesses we source from. Women are key in our two chief suppliers. Every piece that comes through our doors has passed through hands that know us as friends as we know them. That connection runs through everything we make.
Made in Delhi
Made in Jaipur
Made in Nepal
In 2022, John sadly passed away. Wendy remains active in the family business ~ as do many makers and artisans across India and Nepal who have been part of our story since the beginning. Some things don't change. Tree of Life has been made with love since early 1990’s. It still is.
"Dedicated to the one creative spirit that lives in all"