UP artisans cater to demand for antique furniture designs

Manmeet Singh Gill

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, November 13

Even as the latest in everything, be it new models of mobile phones, electronic gadgets or cars, is the new fad of the young generation, when it comes to furniture, the old still has not lost its charm.

For those who cannot lay their hands on an antique piece of furniture, similar-looking designs serve the purpose. The craze for these antique designs is such that wood artists from Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh have been coming to the city year after year for the past 22 years.

“We have never went back from here disappointed. People of this city have enormous love for antique designs,” said Haji Asgar Ali, an artist associated with the Shah Arts Society, a consortium of wood artists based in Saharanpur, which had put up the sale and exhibition of these finely-carved wood works at the Art gallery here recently.

Talking about the art, Asgar Ali said his family had been making wooden furniture for generations. “I do not think our ancestors were engaged in any other business. We start training our children when they get 12 years old. Along with attending school, they start learning the art and become good artisans by the time they are young,” he said.

However, the art is taught to only male children and girls are are not taught this art. Another artist, Amjad Ali, said, “We prefer mango, leechi, peach and tahli wood for making furniture, but here we have seen that people would go to any extent to take home a piece made of tahli.” He added that tahli is preferred for its durability and its property to keep insects away.