Kashmir, a northern state of India, has built its fame not only on the merits of its age-old political controversy or its natural beauty, but also on the merits of its local arts and crafts, of which the hand-crafted, ornate walnut furniture pieces are both beautiful and functional. The paradox of this class of furniture is that it is both old and new; traditional and contemporary.
Most of the skilled craftsmanship has been handed down generation after generation in very traditional, family-based settings. Families that thrive on making rugs make only kashmiri carpets and rugs; families that have specialized in making walnut furniture only live on those!
What’s So Famous About these Kashmiri Walnut Furniture?
These carefully hand-crafted furniture items combine the rare elegance of walnut; the traditional, ornate designs of Kashmiri crafts; and the practical, usage features of the contemporary world. In beauty and grace, this type of furniture stands for tradition; in functionality, it stands for modernism. These furniture items are still so popular, that foreigners all over the world make an extra effort to stop by Kashmir or any large store in India selling these; then they order some to take back to their homeland.
Walnut Furniture
The Kashmir, hand-crafted walnut furniture has to go through a wood treatment process before its ready to take on craftsman’s tools because unprocessed walnut wood would crumble under those heavy beatings turning the ordinary wood pieces into beautiful, carved-wood furniture pieces. These pieces range from study desks, to roll-over cupboards, to end table to a lot of other useful items. The outstanding features of Kashmiri walnut furniture sets are:
– They are visually appealing with finely carved out, ornate designs
– They combine rare traditional beauty and elegance with modern, practical, usage ideas. Each and every furniture item can serve at least two purposes, if not more.
– The color and texture of walnut makes the furniture sets stand out from other modern Indian furniture.
– The walnut wood and the traditional, kashmiri designs combine to create rare, artistic pieces.
– Specific, made-to-order pieces may be ordered and shipped to a customer’s home address.
Stocked items
Normally, some pieces are always found on stock in any retail shop selling kashmiri furniture; some other items may have to be made to order. The items that are readily available in the kashmiri walnut furniture category are wooden room partitions, centre tables, end tables, sofa sets, roll-over desk tops, roll-over cupboards, and so forth.
Most proud Kashmiri furniture makers would be eager to custom-design any unusual item selected by a customer. A good number of foreigners, while traveling in India, make a point to visit these traditional carpet and furniture-selling families in Kashmir.
Most foreign tourists planning on visiting India may be well served if they are acquainted with the beautiful craftsmanship of Indian furniture.
Modern-designed furniture is manufactured by millions of companies and individuals, thus leaving a buyer quite perplexed about a buying choice. The modern Kashmiri furniture is at least worth someone’s consideration even if it doesn’t make the final round.
