About Home of Poi
1. Our Vision & Mission
To help everyone discover and shine in the performance arts.
Our mission is to consistently deliver the best resources and equipment in the kinetic arts — leading in research, development, production, distribution, community, education and support.
Our driving goal is simple: to truly reflect our name, and BE the Home of Poi and related twirling and spinning arts.
2. Our Story
From a bedroom in 1998 to the world's largest flow arts resource.
Home of Poi was started on 26 October 1998 by Malcolm Crawshay, with just two products to sell and a single computer. It was one of the first educational poi swinging resources on the internet.
From an idea and a box of bits in a bedroom, the company grew — first taking over more of the family home, then a garage, then leased premises, before settling into a 420+ square metre factory and warehouse facility purpose-built for the flow arts community.
Today Home of Poi receives tens of thousands of visitors and ships thousands of items every week to customers across the globe.
3. Our Journey
Key milestones in our story
- 1998 — Home of Poi founded by Malcolm Crawshay as one of the first online poi resources.
- 2004 — Outgrew the family home and moved to leased premises at Hayton Road.
- 2007 — Moved into a 420+ square metre warehouse and distribution centre at Sonter Road.
- 2016 — Shaban joins the team, working on product design, sourcing and manufacturing.
- 2020 — Company restructured during the global pandemic to relocate operations closer to customers.
- 2026 — Shaban takes the helm to drive Home of Poi into its next chapter.
4. Our Guiding Principles
Four cornerstones of responsibility
Community responsibility
Home of Poi is a Community before it is a company. Our forum is what makes us unique — it is member-policed, advertising-free, and member safety is paramount. We report to our customers, and they shape our actions.
Kinetic arts responsibility
We strengthen the links to the origins of the flow arts and help propel them into the future — facilitating growth, learning and access so as many people as possible can benefit from them.
Corporate responsibility
We treat our team like family — with continual benchmarking of wages, performance feedback and benefits, and an active commitment to staying ahead of legal minimums and supporting a healthy work-life balance.
Globe-care — Environmental responsibility
We share the limited resources of this spaceship earth and act accordingly: building eco-friendly practices into every operating procedure, working toward carbon-neutral or carbon-positive operations, recycling aggressively, and educating our customers along the way.
5. Sustainability
Caring for the planet that fuels the flow.
We aggressively recycle and minimise landfill waste to biodegradable material only. Eco-friendly thinking is built into our standard operating procedures — from packaging choices to logistics decisions.
Our long-term commitment is to be carbon neutral, and ideally carbon positive, in our operational impact — and to help our customers make informed, sustainable choices in their own practice.
6. Community
A global family of flow artists, spinners and twirlers.
One of our greatest strengths is our huge moderated community of enthusiasts who are always online to help with new moves, advice and encouragement — a place to make new friends, find practice partners locally, and grow together.
This community continues to feel like a global family to us. Their support and feedback shape everything we do, and we will always act to preserve the safety, security and wellbeing of every member.
7. Meet the team
The people behind Home of Poi.
Shaban — Owner
Shaban is the owner of Home of Poi, dedicated to delivering great service and great products. His extensive experience has expanded the company across several countries to bring customers better shipping and faster delivery. Working with the team since 2016 in product design, sourcing and manufacturing, he now drives Home of Poi forward into its next chapter.
Malcolm — Founder
Malcolm founded Home of Poi in October 1998 and steered the company through more than two decades of growth. Today his role is to support Shaban and the team — lending his experience to keep Home of Poi the trusted resource the flow arts community knows and relies on.
8. Why Home of Poi
Quality, knowledge and care — in every order.
- Specialists, not generalists. Every product is curated by people who actually spin, twirl and perform.
- Free lessons and learning resources. Hundreds of tutorials, videos and guides — free to use, designed to help you grow.
- Quality you can trust. Approved products from manufacturers meeting our high standards of quality and service.
- Worldwide shipping. A global distribution network to get your gear to you reliably, wherever you are.
- Real support from real spinners. Get answers from people who genuinely understand the arts — not a generic call centre.
9. Get in Touch
We'd love to hear from you.
Whether you have a question, an idea, a wholesale enquiry, or just want to say hello — we're here for the community that built us.