Irresistible crafts for home

HANDICRAFT GALORE

Sit on an 18 century Queen Anne chair and admire yourself in front of a teak wood dressing table, designed in same era’s style. Place your feet on Persian silk carpets and take a walk around a room decked with brass sculptures and mango wood furniture.

All this will saturate your imagination with thoughts of a palace but this is all available under one roof at the ongoing Handicraft Month at Central Cottage Industries Emporium, Janpath.

Almost everything in furniture, home decor and accessories is available to furnish your home differently. Teak wood furniture from Mysore, white metal furniture with meenakaari from Udaipur and a baithak made out of mango wood from Jaipur are only a few highlights among these. What adds elegance to this is the hand-crafted wooden swing from Badmer, Rajasthan in pure teak.

Cabinets in several sizes are also available with patra work on wood. “The patra work is done with brass, to make the furniture look graceful,” informs manager Prem Ram while pointing towards marble artifacts from Agra and Jaipur. “The lamp in the centre is an excellent example of jali work in marble from Agra and is often high in
demand for export,” he adds while stating it is priced at Rs five lakh.

For those with lesser budgets, look out wooden figures of gods and goddesses from Southern India and artifacts in Dhokra art of Chattisgarh. “The fusion of dhokra and warli (from Maharashtra) in clocks, panels and serving trays with tussar fabric as the background has become a favourite as it is economically priced and yet trendy enough for homes,” shares Poonam Arora from the emporium.

She also introduces Metrolife to the exclusive artifacts of marble with gold leaf work and those made of camel bones. “After ivory was banned, artisans shifted their focus to crafting intricate boxes and lamps from bones of dead camels. These pieces are rare and at times we also get a pair of scissors or paper-cutters made of camel bone,” adds Poonam.

Beyond the furniture and artifacts, the focus shifts to piles of carpets on the first floor. These are available in various sizes in pure silk and silk mixed with cotton with both traditional and contemporary designs such as handan, isfahan, kashan and shiraz.

“The names of these designs come from names of Persian cities since the carpet industry came from Iran,” informs artisan SS Hassan from Srinagar. When asked which is the most expensive piece available, he points to the smallest one stating that it is a silk by silk with 2500 knots and priced at Rs three lakh ninety thousand.  It is true then, that good things come in small packages!