Wood Craft In India
Wooden Handicraft has been a style statement of the Indian community for centuries. It exhibits the tradition of exquisite natural beauty, elaborate woodwork for architectural purposes and the manufacture of furniture.
Wood Carving: Painstakingly carved and inlaid, the wooden articles are quite popular with all lovers of woodcarvings. The range of designs include carving in hard sheesham, particularly vine leaf pattern, floral, geometric and figurative decoration, in addition to the traditional anguri and takai carvings, jali (fretted ornamentation), brass, copper and Ivory inlay work. Bone and plastic are now being used as low cost substitutes for Ivory since extracting of Ivory is banned in India. Sandalwood and Rosewood carved handicraft is popular besides heavy ornamental furniture.
Ideal destinations to shop: Saharanpur famous for hard sheesham carvings, Mainpur in Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala for distinctive styles of wood carving and Rajasthan.
Wood Lacquering: Lacquering on wood not only lends colour and sparkle to the products, but also smoothens out the contours thereby imparting a lustrous finesse. India is well known for ornamental lacquering involving intricate patterns like zig-zag and dana work, atishi, abri or cloud and nakkashi. In Varanasi, a number of lacquered toys and miniature kitchen utensils for children to play with are made.
Sculptures: The artistic woodcarvings of southern India draws inspiration from the old Indian tradition of worship. Apart from marvelous prototypes of various gods and goddesses, the wall plaques, statues and toys made of rosewood, sandalwood and teakwood are mesmerizing to behold.
Ideal destinations to shop: Kashmir, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Gujrat, Goa, Sikkim, West Bengal, and Karnataka.
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