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India and Teak Furniture
The craftsmanship and their obsession with beauty have resulted in ornate and
complicated hand carved creations from stone, ivory, and wood for palaces,
temples, public houses, works of arts, etc. Age-old local traditions and culture
have contributed mostly to this development of their ornamental woodwork, and
not to the manufacturing of practical furniture such as tables, and chairs. The
main reason for this was that meals were eaten mainly while sitting, or
squatting on floor, while resting took place on a charpoy, which is simple rope
bed with wooden posts. Foreign influence was the main cause for furniture
development in India.
The Portuguese were the first Europeans to arrive in India, in the 16th century.
The furniture and culture of the inhabitants of India was unfamiliar to the
Portuguese. The Portuguese and later the Dutch, French and English, influenced
local craftsmen to build wooden furniture to use in their settlements which were
replicas of what they were used to using. The Indian carpenters incorporated
their intricate carvings with the foreign designs producing an indigenous flavor
of craftsmanship to western furniture. It was these influences, which gave rise
to the Mughal style, Goanese, and the Indo-Dutch style, as well as the
combination of ebony and ivory familiar in the Chippendale and Sheraton style
furniture.
During the 18th century, English predominance influenced the styling of
furniture to the point that many Indian rulers became patrons. However, this was
seen more as a reflection of the Anglicization of the rulers, and their desire
to identify with British military and government who were viewed as the ruling
class. In the 19th century, after British occupation, adornment carvings, aging
assumed dominance in works of art rather than as furniture.
India is a tropical country with approximately eighty varieties of hardwood,
which many have been used in their old tradition of furniture making. For
centuries, Teak has been used in the shipping industry because of its resilient
to water and weather. Following the English influence Teak became immensely
popular for quality woodwork. India’s royal homes and rich households feature
some of the most well known examples of native woodwork such as the Teak doors,
which were gifts to the Indian Government and now reside in the National Museum
in Kolkata / Calcutta.
In the years following the British occupation, India’s furniture industry has
evolved to the point that more emphases was placed on lower prices, which has
driven down the amount of ornamentation. In addition, cheaper varieties of wood
are being used to accommodate for the huge demand for low cost furniture.
However, in small areas such as in Rajasthan some of the old heavily ornate
forms of furniture are still being crafted. Here, the old forms of furniture
making have been preserved. Today however, foreign designs have been combined
with local styles, which have become hugely popular with Western trade.
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